Tokyo Highlights (Part 3)

I realize that I shouldn’t be abusing my lovely blog platform to wax-poetic about Tokyo (see Tokyo Highlights Part 1 & Part 2 for evidence), but I just can’t help myself.  So, dear friends, allow me to indulge in 1 final post about this delicious city & then I promise I’ll stop with all the Tokyo talk (for now).

Dōmo arigatō.

Okay, so let’s talk Sunday FUNday.

If you happen to be visiting Japan on a Sunday, I’d highly recommend that you spend the day people-watching and boutique hopping in Harajuku and Aoyama.  These vibrant, young neighborhoods are the best places in Japan (dare I say, the world?!) to indulge in crazy, cool and unbelievably unique fashion.

For someone who is lightly obsessed with fashion, like myself, walking around Harajuku is pure divinity- neon pants, colorful wigs, 6 inch platforms – anything goes!

But this area isn’t fun for the fashionistas alone, it’s also the perfect place for the anthropologically-minded tourist.  Believe me, you’ve never seen anything like it.

On a sunny afternoon, Jingu Bridge (right outside the Harajuku metro stop) is the perfect place to witness some of Tokyo’s many sub-cultures.  Here you’ll find Harajuku’s cosplayers, Lolitas, anime characters, etc. hanging out with each other and getting photographed by wide-eyed tourists, like moi.

(Stare all you want, but be sure to ask permission before taking a photo.)

If you need a little break from the “cray-cray” Harajuku fashion, cross the Jingu bridge to reach the beautiful Meiji Shrine.  The gardens surrounding the shrine are so lovely, that you can easily forget that you’re still in ultra-modern Tokyo.

But I didn’t want to forget.

So, after the quickest of walks to the Meiji Shrine (I didn’t have time to dilly dally – I was on a fashionably anthropological mission here, folks!), I pushed G & my friends toward the neighboring Yoyogi Park.

Looks pretty normal, right?

WRONG!

Yoyogi Park, on a Sunday, is one of the kookiest places I have ever visited.  (And for point of reference, I went to U.C. Berkeley, so I know kooky.)  Remember the quote from Zoolander, “I feel like I’m taking CRAZY pills?”  That’s exactly how I felt when walking through Yoyogi.

Let me explain.

At the entrance to the park, we had our first encounter with weirdness (in a good way) – the Rockabilly dancers.  This eclectic group of rockers, rappers, greasers and twisters gather every Sunday at Yoyogi Park to perform their favorite dances.

You know, just for fun… leather jackets, pompadours & all that jazz.

It was a fascinating display, to say the least.

Once we were finally able to detach ourselves from this bizarre jiving site, we entered the park & saw…

HAIR!  And lots of it.

But that was probably the most “normal” thing we saw that day because right around the corner there was…

a novice boy band!  (It wasn’t pretty.)

And just a hop-skip away, we ran into…

and people playing…

and dogs wearing…

and who can forget…

not to mention…

Now can you see why I fell so hard for Tokyo?!

I thought so.

Okay, now I’m done.