August 23, 2008 Karla's chance encounter with Harajuku Girls

WE DID IT !!!!! CJ and I climbed to the top of MT. Fuji in the dark, cold, rain and fog and down the along the "FUJI River" in the same nasty weather the next morning. YES !!! :-)
It was a loooooong cccooold hike, but one well worth our sore and aching bodies this Monday morning 8/25. Today as the rain continues to fall outside, I will keep busy in the dry and warm house updating my blog,unpacking and doing the laundry,uploading Fuji Facebook photos and video...CJ left early this morning for a two day road trip for work down by Nagasaki and Osaka. More planes and trains are on the agenda for him today and tomorrow.
OK, so we left the warmer temps of Motomachi Saturday morning and headed to Mt Fuji via 1 subway to Yokohama. At Yokohama station we got on our 1st train to Hachioji, and after a 40 minute or so ride we switched to another train to Otsuki. In Hachioji we ran into a few Harajuku girls up close and I was so excited! I figured they were on their way to strut their stuff on the cat walk in Tokyo.I assumed this is maybe where some of them lived and thought WOW, that is quite a ways to travel each weekend to get to Tokyo. I wonder where they get all their money from, to pay for the trains, buy the fancy outfits? Do they work, how old are they?
We sadly had to go on the other side of the tracks to get our 2nd train to Otsuki and there I was able to catch a photo in the train window of a typical Japanese girl all decked out and checking her cell phone with charms galore hanging from it. Then CJ realized, that the train she was on, was in fact our train too, and so we ran back up the steps over the tracks and down the steps to get on the car just before the doors closed behind us. YES, we got to ride with the young girls and hopefully see what was going on and where they were all headed. It wasn't Tokyo we knew that or at least we hoped so as we were headed in the opposite direction. Yahoo!
As we rode in the correct direction to Otsuki we passed a river and rice paddies all along the river bank, and below the fog covered mountains in the background. It was now beginning to rain and the temps were starting to feel a bit cooler. It reminded me of my trip in Norway when Jean and I were going on the Fjord trip and I had my shorts on and felt perhaps, I was not dressed appropriately for the weather? I again had shorts and flip flops on as I did not want to put my hiking clothes or shoes on till the very last minute. I do not like to wear shoes and I get hot with all those layers on.
When we arrived in Otsuki, we were greeted by a "BUNCH" more Harajuku girls and punk rockers all dressed in their finest and many pulling their colorful suitcases and purses behind them. There was a rainbow assortment of umbrellas and under those a sea of pink,lace,bows,Bo-peep dresses,Hello Kitty,polka-dots,heels and platform shoes of all kinds, plaid, black, safety pins,piercings,studs,black eyeliner, dog and wrist collars,sunglasses...outfits of all types.
What was going on and where were they all going? I was in hog heaven as you can imagine, and wanted to snap away with my camera, but something just made me take it all in with my own eyes. (OK, so most of it anyway,...I struggled a few times and couldn't hold myself back and did get a couple snaps in.)They were so VERY CLOSE to me, and so many of them, I think I was actually a bit dumbfounded.
Ok,so now my curiosity is REALLY peaking and I am thinking I have got to talk with one of them at least? I mean heck we are going to be in the same train with a car load of them, for who knows how long, how can I not? This is the opportunity I had hoped for, but here on my way to Fuji--who would have thought it, not me?
So, we all waited in the rain on the platform deck under our umbrellas for the 3rd train to Kawaguchi to arrive. As we waited, another train passed by with Thomas the Tank Engine characters painted all over the outside of it. As it passed many of the young kids giggled, ohhed and ahhed and made comments to one another on the different names of the cars I think...at least I thought I hear one or two of the names? It surprised me that they knew or even had that book over here. It was a good reminder for me though, as "I think I can, I think I can"... was probably going to be something running through my head soon, as I began to climb the mountain.
A few minutes later our colorful red, white and blue train arrived to more ohhs and ahhs and we all get on board. CJ and I each grabbed the first available seat and so we ended up a row apart. It of course was jam packed and so many kids ended up standing in the aisles. The two girls in the pink standing waiting for the train on the platform ended up right next to me! YES!! It was so fun just to listen to the chatter and you could feel the enthusiasm in the air. They were excited about wherever it was they were going. They talked, laughed, primped in their compact mirrors, combed their hair, put on more eyeliner, checked their phones every few minutes or so, texted a friend I guess,practiced some arms cheers or dance moves or something?
CJ and I shared the bento box lunch he bought before we got on the train. He ate one half and then passed the other 1/2 to me. It was good sticky white rice, a piece of chicken, 1 sausage, some pickles,noodles w/ginger,..Good! So now I am done eating and enjoying the show and my up close and personal encounter with this little, animated and lively one in pink. It was so good just to hear everyone talking with one another and it wasn't another quiet, dull train ride of silence. Family and friend weekend trains are THANKFULLY very different and much more alive and active than the opposite dull and silent work day, commuter ones.
This girl must LOVE the color PINK. Everything she had in her pink purse which was almost in my lap, was pink. Her pink cell phone was covered in pink,red and white studs that looked like frosting. She had a candy bar for later, pink compact, pink hanky for dabbing at her perspiration,...It was fun watching her go through all her rituals. The other girl was in her Hello Kitty Yukata Pj's and was less feminine looking or acting as this one. Plus, she was behind me so I could not really see out of the corner of my eye what she was up to. HaHa!
So I thought to myself, how do I start a conversation with them, will they speak english, I want to ask them the 1001 questions, would love a photo..something. But those two girls chatted the whole time, I could not have gotten a word in edgewise if I had tried. So I just watched and listened, but could not decipher a thing.
We then made a stop and the very quiet lady who was sitting next to me got up and got off. An OPEN seat,WHO is going to take it? I tried to get the little pink ones attention as she had just been squatting down and I thought perhaps her legs were tired from standing, but to tell you the truth I think she was so busy talking she had no idea the lady even got up and off the train behind her.
Then the girl in front of her who's back had been to me the whole time until CJ passed the food back and then now when the lady got off, looked at me and I motioned to her to sit if she liked. She smiled and then looked away and then when she looked back again, I motioned again and said sit if you like. She looked away and said something to her friend ahead of her and then came towards me and said "May I sit?" I of course said "SURE" and tried to keep myself from jumping in her lap. Ok so here I was and sad cause the trip I was sure, was almost over and I had not even begun the 1001 question interrogation yet.:-)
So I had no time to waste and had to get to work. I asked her if she spoke english and she said a little and smiled timidly. I asked where all the kids were going and she said to a concert. I asked her what kind of music they played if it was Japanese pop, J-pop,or what kind ?? She then showed me a picture on her cell phone of a punk band. When she said the name of the band I could not understand what she said, so I asked her to write the name in my notebook "The Gazette". Oh so it is punk rock or hard rock band I said and she said "Yes". Cool! I asked her if she was excited and she said "OH YES", with a VERY BIG smile and sparkling eyes!! I asked her if she knew of any punk bands or other bands from the US. She said she liked Red Hot Chili Peppers and I said, "Oh me too, we have a few of their CD's at home". "Anthony Kedis and Flea they are so cool, and do you know the song Californication".."YES,yes" she did, she said.
She then asked where we were going and I said to Hike Mt Fuji. She asked if hiking made me excited, and I said "Yes, and especially cause it is a new place for me, so I was very excited".
I asked her name and it was "SAYNA". I am not sure if that is how she spells it, but that is how it sounded when she said it. I should have had her write that as well.I asked her if she was about 20 years old and she said no only 16 years old and she is from Otsuki. She asked where we were from and I told her USA, from Minnesota just below Canada. She did not know where that was. I told her we now lived in Yokohama now for 1-2 years and we are enjoying her country very much.
I told her we had been to Harajuku a couple weekends ago and she smiled and said as she motioned at her friends "We are going there tomorrow". I told her I LOVED it there, and was so "INTRIGUED" by all the kids and their creative ways of dressing and expressing themselves. She smiled and said she likes it there too. So who knows maybe another day if I go back, I might see her there? I wonder, if I will recognize her,or if she will be dressed up in some kind of character outfit, unlike her normal self? She was actually quite "normal" looking. I could tell she had a little punk edge to her, but definetly not hard core or at least today she was not dressed that way.
She thanked me for talking to her and I then asked her if she had a computer or if she might like to talk on the computer and she could practice her english. She said maybe, so I looked for a business card, but didn't have one so I wrote my name and Email on a piece of notebook paper and gave it to her. Just then her stop came up and she had to go, so I was not able to get her Email. Darn ! :-( I asked if I could take her picture as she was climbing past my legs and she said sure. I sure hope she writes me,but if not, I had fun the short time I had my chance encounter with her. I hope Sayna enjoyed and saw more of her concert than I did of my hike in the fog. As she left the train and walked passed our car, I waved to her and she smiled and waved back. YEAH...that was so fun!
So we continued on,and as we pulled out of town we could see a BIG amusement park, so we assumed that is probably where the concert was going to be held. The next stop was ours and so we got off and then got on a bus to take us to Station 5 at Mt. Fuji.
The Fuji climb is coming up next.....