Tokyo - Harajuku

I knew well in advance what we were going to do on the Sunday, and that was …Harajuku! Sunday is THE day to wander round this area, and stand amazed and fascinated by the groups of girls who congregate on the bridge every Sunday :

“In order to experience the teenage culture at its most extreme, visit Harajuku on a Sunday, when many young people gather around Harajuku Station and engage in cosplay ("costume play"), dressed up in crazy costumes to resemble anime characters, punk musicians, etc.” (Recommendation from japan-guide.com)

Once again, we had set off early from the ryokan in order to squeeze every drop out of Harajuku. Once at Harajuku station, we simply followed all the other curious tourists, who were heading for the bridge to see first-hand Japanese youth culture at its most colourful, creative, and head-turning weird! I wasn’t really sure what to expect to be honest. I had seen pictures of some of the costumes / outfits worn by the girls, and I knew that it was going to be a good chance to get some cool photos. But I hadn’t really realised how much time and effort these kids obviously put into their outfits. There were just so many details, trends, and ideas they had thought about….scarves, pins, make-up, hats, gloves, shoes, hair, tights, layering, clashing colours, torn fabric, neat lace…not to mention the facial expressions and characters that these girls suddenly became when you took a photo of them! Of course, I asked permission to take their picture, but it always made me smile, when they politely said ‘yes’, and then posed with a scowl, and claw-like hands in order to enhance the character they assumed. For them, it seemed like a really good fun way to spend a Sunday…a chance to express themselves, a chance to be noticed, looked at, and admired, a chance to move away from the conformity of a weekday school uniform, and also a great chance to just hang out with their mates, as many of the girls sat chatting in groups, and exploding into excitement when they spied a friend they hadn’t seen for a week or 2. It was really interesting to walk among them, and look carefully at their outfits, their attitude, their interaction with each other, as well as the tourists and photographers. The costumes varied from the cute to the scary, from animated to sullen...Enjoy!