Ok the Saturday blog took me forever and so this one will have to wait till tomorrow (Tuesday). CJ just got home as well, and so we will eat dinner now and try to watch a bit of the Olympics before bed.
It is now Tuesday morning 8/12 here in Japan and the sun is trying to push it's way through the thick 7am cloud cover. CJ is just leaving for work and I will now work on updating our fun filled visit to Western Tokyo's Harajuku district on Sunday afternoon.
WOW..what a COOL place. As soon as we stepped out of the train station we were inundated with fashion, creative clothing worn be intriguing young girls, some new foods, dancing, and music of all varieties,.... We took the JR trains and city subways to get to Shin-juku station and then realized we wanted to be at Harajuku, so we headed back down the line a few stations. Right away I saw what I came for. Walking on the other side of the street were the Harajuku girls dressed in their high platform shoes, big hair, makeup and others dressed like Little Bo Peep with their frilly lace dresses, anklets and hiding demurly under their umbrellas. YES! :-)
We headed down the block first to walk through "Takeshita -Dori" . This is the little narrow alley way where you go to see what is new in teen fashion and youth culture here in Japan. I of course was very happy to see the delightful looking crepes display when first entering the alley way. (we did not get one, so we of course will have to go back another day). We shuffled our way past the many boutiques with 1000 other folks young and old that were probably there for the same reason as we were. Here is where we saw many more foreigners and I actually said to CJ ,"I don't like seeing so many Europeans and Americans". It kind of just changes the whole feel for the country. I think I rather like being one tall, gray haired old American lady in a sea of tiny and petite black,red,green,purple... haired Japanese.
Two young ladies were all decked out in their flourescent orange and lime green fashions and were so happy to oblige this old lady with a photo. I actually did see a pair of jeans that looked like the bottom was cut out and then some leopard print fabric was sewn in. Kind of like those clothes photos I have on one of my earliest posts. It was hard to get photos in this area as there were too many people in a small spot.
When we got to the end of the street we were looking at a map to see which way to go next and we started talking with this young man from Michigan who was also figuring out what direction to head in. He was of Indian ancestory I believe and had the most beautiful eyes and some funky color streaked hairstyle. I didn't even think of taking his pic as we were so busy having a nice chat. He was here in Tokyo for the weekend, but was doing a 3 month internship and living in Osaka while working/studying nuclear energy. He too, was looking to find all the Harajuku girls, and hoped he would see some as friends of his had come 2 different times and never saw any. We told them where we saw the girls walking near the train station, so I am hoping he found them.
We walked past more boutiques in the quiet little lanes running off of Harajuku Sreet and then made our way back to the train station area, past a police station "Koban" where we asked him the best place to take pics of the girls. He said they don't like to have their pictures taken by signing with his arms crossed.
So off we went and once we climbed up and over the pedestrian bridge we saw on a plaza like area below us crowds of people gathering and taking fotos of the infamous "Harajuku" girls. A few guys were dressed up as well and they actually seemed to WANT their pictures taken. One group had a "FREE HUGS" sign and so they of course got all kinds of takers on photo ops, so many actually, that I couldn't even get up there to receive one myself. The guy in the pink outfit was actually inviting people over to get a picture with him. So here they were, the infamous girls from Gwen Strefani's Song "Harajuku Girls". Yes they do have some wicked style. I am very envious and utterly intrigued by how they can mix and match things together to come up with such outrageous and eye catching outfits. It is "live art" at its best, I think. They have a demeanor about them too, that makes them even more intriguing.
OK, so I know I have been using that word INTRIGUING alot and I need to get a hold of a synonyms book so I can use some new words to express the same thing. You all know, I could have just sat there all day and people watched or if my Japanese was any good I would love to have talked to them and asked a bunch of questions. What inspires them? How do they create a certain outfit? How do they come up with the money to buy all the clothes which I am sure aren't too cheap? Some of the outfit were pretty extravagant. Do they have jobs, go to school ? How old are you, where do you live? I read that many of them are from the rural areas and ones that were bullied or outcasts in their school. Is that in fact true and how are they accepted in their villages and what do people say when they leave for Tokyo to strut their stuff in all their fancy regalia? Do they have a special name for themselves when they wear a certain outfit? You know like a stage name of sorts? What do they like best/least about their sub culture? If they dress so different from the hoards of others around them and then come to this very central location (at the gates to the biggest Shrine in the area) where they know they will stand out in the crowd, then why do they think there will be no photos taken? Isn't attention what they really want? .....
I found if I had signaled to some by pointing to me, my camera and then them they were ok with pictures being taken and then others either covered their faces or did the crossed arm sign so you knew they were not wanting you to photogragh them. A few were happy to take pics with you as well.
There were quite a few older men around with cameras themselves and they were telling some people not to take pics. One older man got very mad at another young tourist who was taking a picture. He actually got up off his chair and got right in his face and yelled at him in Japanese. It was a bit difficult to actually figure out who could and could not take pics?? I noticed the girls were very willing to pose for pictures that these old men were taking. There was some dynamic there we were missing? Another man actually had a printer with him and he would make a copy of the photo and give it to the girls right then and there. They attracted crowds all afternoon that is for sure. I noticed too, when they were going to laugh or got excited they always put their hand over there mouth.
CJ finally pullllllllllled me away and we then began to walk into the Meiji Jingu Shrine, but we heard music on the other side of the park and so we thought it best to go see what was going on there first, before the music died....We walked into another interesting fashion scene and felt like we were dropped into the 1950's era. Here were a bunch of Elvis look a like guys with their jet black hair and a few with golden locks greased back into all shapes and sizes of that infamous pompadour hairstyle. It looked like we were dropped in the midst of a Japanese Grease movie set. There were 5 different groups of Elvis guys and two with girls all dolled up in their poodle like skirts dancing the twist and to 1950's music. They were like Energizer bunnies and never stopped. They danced and danced for hours and hours. I could not believe how much energy they exuded and that they were so focused and into a zone, almost like an athlete when he is in a race or competition. It was most interesting.
We walked down the central path through Yoyogi park and there we sat to eat an orange and some nut mix while we watched another large group of young people practicing some dance step routine, 3 people practicing fencing moves with big sticks (sai's..I think?), one guy in the distance doing nunchucks(sp?), some drummers pounding out some tunes. Across the way through the trees, we could hear bag pipes and also see some kind of karate or something going on under the trees on a big blue tarp. When we were done eating we strolled over to check it out and found it to be what looked like a group of actors practicing some samuari play. We walked past the girl blowing her bagpipe and then down the outside path of the park where all sorts of different bands were set up and each playing their own special brand of music. WOW...what a talented bunch of youth and how cool that the city lets them do this. I wondered if this was a ritual every Sunday or was it some special event just today?
When we got down the path aways we noticed across the street there was some other gathering taking place and we smelled food,so we went to check that out as well. We first came upon a flea market where it looked like people just brought out all the old stuff they had and were trying to sell it off. "Your junk is someone elses treasure"...you know that sort of thing. It was amazing to see how they once again each had their little colored tarps laid out and everyone had "their spot" which was as always,respected. I like too, how some were very creative in the way they displayed their goods on the ground...almost like a store window display ,but with out mannequins and on a flat surface.
There was a band shell there too , with some very annoying music (to us anyway) coming from the singers on the stage. We wondered how they got picked to perform on the "center stage" when just down the pathway were 100 others they could have chose to perform that sounded to us SO much better ?
It was SO COOL, how this long, wide, brick pathway was lined on each side with upcoming artists displaying their talents to the passersby and trying to build a fan base each about 20 feet apart from their competition. WOW..it was a music explosion and native Japanese music/art concert right before our eyes and all for FREE! Things can't get any better than that, now can they? We enjoyed all kinds of artistic displays. Belly dancing, comedy routines, solo girl singers, flutists, boy bands, girl bands, break dancers, alternative music, guitarists, punk rock,latin R and B which ended up being my favorite "Vinyl Soul".Glad I bought their CD for y1000. Others gave CD's away and many had flyers to pass out of their upcoming gigs they have lined up. I think this is so AWESOME !! Never did find out if it was a weekly event or just something special that day. How cool if it was held every week. I know one place you might be able to find me on Sunday's for sure if that is the case.:-)
Well, my hunger was quite strong at this moment and so I had been watching many different men as we walked along making these baked balls of something with sesame seeds, scallions, pickled ginger and dough so I thought what the heck they smelled good and looked quite good as well, so I'll give them a try. CJ was going to order a shaved ice and I said, "Lets get some of these too". He said, "Are you sure?" and I said "Yeah they look tasty, don't you think so"? So he gave me y500 and I got the balls and he did not get his stuff? When the man put the dough balls in the tray he poured this brown like hoysein (sp)looking sauce over them and then sprinkled some dry flaky stuff on top and offered us some mayo too.
When I went to eat it I realized by the very strong smell it was dried fish flakes,I think they call bonito? He put a bit more than I needed, so I just pushed some of the flakes to the side and then rolled one ball in the brown sauce and mayo mixture and took a big bite. It was very hot and quite tasty....then in the middle there was something much chewier than the rest of it. I looked at the other half and there was this bright purple piece of something in the middle. All of a sudden the lights went on and I realized here I was eating "Tako". NO, not like our Tacos back home, but "Octupus" balls. CJ just laughed and said ,"Didn't you see the sign above the stand with the octupus on it?" No I guess I didn't as I was so intrigued with the big muffin tin like grill he was cooking them on and rotating them as they browned up on all sides. All or in this case some of the ingredients were lined up in front of the cooking area. Where was his tray of octupus parts ? He was a very smart man to hide his below the counter where all these foreigners could not see what was actually in it. HAHA
It was actually pretty good and if I did not look at it or think too much about it I was really ok. So there you have it, I had my first "blind taste test" of real Japanese fare from a street vendor no less and I lived to tell you all about it.:-P Yahoo!
So we headed back across the street and along the park for one more look at the "Girls" on their cat walk before going home and to see if any more new ones showed up for the late afternoon and evening show. While walking along the park we listened to a bunch of new bands that arrived since we passed by earlier in the day and I enjoyed the looks, entertainment style and piano music by HITT. He had great interaction skills with his audience members and even got one guy to get up and sing. He was a bit off key and karoke like, but I gave him credit for just doing it. Futher down the walk 2 old men were dancing,laughing and grooving to the very hard, head banging punk rock band that had a row of girls waving their arms in the air, shaking their heads and a couple foreigners making their own little mosh pit while enjoying the hard pounding music. I could barely stand the noise or vibrations as I had to walk past the VERY LOUD speakers to get to where we were going and wondered how were those people standing right in front of the speakers surviving? YIKES...it still makes my ears ring 2 days later.
We passed the rock and rollers and they were still twisting about. UNBELIEVABLE! That was 6 hours at least that we saw them and who knows how long before we came or after we left that they were still going at it? When we got back to the plaza, more girls had arrived, and many more toutists as well. It was fun to sit and people watch. Now, one of the girls had on some verrrrrrrry high black platform shoes
and another girl was all dressed in a red velvet like fabric pants outfit. She had some very piercing blue eyes and heavy face makeup. I got her attention and was able to get a few different shots of her and her pals, some of which had tape across their faces. What is that all about, I want to know ?
The guy in pink now had some very big sunglasses he was sporting and still smiling and offering photo ops. I thought to myself these kids could actually have a money tray out and be collecting some money to help buy more of their wicked style clothes. That too, might stop some of the tourists from taking pics as well? Anyhoo, I wanted to watch some more and so CJ went and sat down to wait for me. I watched for an hour more and then looked for CJ but he was no where in sight, I walked around the plaza twice and still no luck so I thought perhaps he went into the Meiji Jingu Shrine that we had past on earlier. So I tried to call his cell phone but no answer. I then decided to walk into the shrine and look for him. Of course it was a HUGE place and it took me forever just to walk down the paths to even get to the buildings. I left my phone on in hopes he might think to call me. I usually don't have my phone turned on, so I am sure he thought it would be off. As soon as I got to the font to wash my hands I heard my phone ring and it THANKFULLY was him. He was still at the plaza by the bridge and I told him I could not see him anywhere. I told him it too, was a long walk in so I was going to look around the shrine before I left. He came and met me and we checked out the shrine together. I bought a y100 traditional "waka" 31-syllable form OMIKUJI (poem-drawing) written by either Emperor Meiji or Empress Shoken. He was very fond of writing this kind of poetry and left 100,000 of them to his people, she left 30,000. Many of these Imperial poems, such as the one I got below are said to express explicit or implicit ethical admonitions in the Shinto tradition.
"Should you but resolve to climb
That Peak towering to the heavens,
You will find there is a pathway
To its very summit.
-Emperor Meiji-
A little more about this Shrine and the Shinto religion from the brochure I picked up here in tomorrows blog post.
We were then off to go home and I am sure to have thoughts of this day running through my head for many days to come. I kind of felt like Dorothy dropped in the land of OZ today. WHAT FUN !!!
Until tomorrow.
Karla and CJ
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