Harajuku & Shibuya
Japan, Life, Travel Comments (0)
Day 5 (Sunday): I was very eager to get to the famous Harajuku to see the cosplayers, so it was with considerable disappointment that I woke up to heavy rain. We went outside the Imperial Palace to take a few photos, then to Meiji Shrine, all in the rain. At the shrine, we learned the proper etiquette for purifying ourselves, entering, and praying, and enjoyed the cool greenery of the surrounding woods.
Then Akiko took her leave to see friends and the rest of us were off to next-door Harajuku, where although a few people in interesting goth and lolita clothing were out, they were huddled under umbrellas, not posing for photographers. One of the students and I teamed up to wander in and out of gothy clothing shops that featured incredible but expensive outfits. We saw, but didn’t enter, the little lolita shop featured in Kamikaze Girls, as well!
I was pretty beat all day — not getting enough restful sleep at night was catching up with me — so I had several bottles of some medicinal/energy drink sold in the local vending machines that Akiko and our local student Brad swore would keep me going! I’m not sure the stuff is any better than a shot of espresso, but if you’re ever in Japan, look for the magic tiny little white and blue bottle with the big red “D” on it!
From Harajuku we walked to the more upscale shopping area of Shibuya (pictured above), where the students were on the lookout for global brands to write about for their sociology paper. We took the famous Shibuya station crossing several times for fun — this is where the faithful dog statue is located — and then we finally crashed at a bar to dry off, warm up, and get a drink. The students are non-stop shoppers, and it’s fun to watch them accumulate bags each day. I’m not sure how they’re going to get everything home, but the treasure “reveal” each time we sit down is a blast.
At 6 we went to the Gonpachi restaurant — the same chain as the one where the big fight takes place in Kill Bill, although ours wasn’t that one — where we met Brad’s delightful family for a dinner of small dishes brought out in endless numbers. Tofu with salt, spicy water lily root, green salad with miniscule white/transparent dried fish on top, dried-salmon-flake-topped potato crispy things, some wild-looking shrimp-ball things, bacon-wrapped asparagus, California roll, spicy tuna roll, caterpillar roll, yakitori chicken, butter fish, cold noodles, sweet mochi and ice cream. Did I mention the food was endless? And it was all absolutely delicious, as well — where can we get spicy water lily root and butter fish in the U.S.? In the end his parents generously paid the bill for us, which was too kind of them.
It’s pretty late now, so I don’t know if I’ll get any new photos uploaded; sorry! I know I didn’t upload anything much yesterday, either. Tomorrow we get up at 5 a.m. to catch a bus to Takayama, though, and I’m sure I’ll be taking hundreds of photos there and at the villages we’ll be visiting the day after tomorrow. The global/metropolitan part of the trip is over, and now we move into more rural and historical Japan for a while. I doubt I’ll have internet access for the next few days; I’ll update next whenever I can!
drupagliassotti @ May 23, 2010