Harajuku... Shopping, Girls, and Rock Bands

This morning I woke up at about 10 am, and managed to wake Paul up at 11 am (oops) so that we could head out on today's adventure.

We walked to Harajuku, about a 45 minute walk (with a pitstop for vitamin water to replenish all the liquid we had sweated out in the scorching heat!). We wanted to go to Kiddy Land (a famous, 5-story Toy Store) and Oriental Express (for some souvenir shopping). We made it to Omote Sando Dori, which is a very famous street in Tokyo. It is a street filled with every high end designer imaginable and I have never in my life seen a more crowded street! (Pictures will be up on Monday). We walked first to Kiddy Land and looked through the floors of toys... wish I were still a little girl! Then Oriental Express, where I got a nice wall hanging for myself. Every where I travel, I like to get some piece of art... I think I may soon run out of wall space in my non-existent home.

We ironically ran into some classmates there who pointed the way to see the Harajuku girls. The Harajuku girls are a sort of punk/eccentric/underground culture. They dress up in outlandish outfits and hang around the bridge in Harajuku and have somehow managed to become a tourist attraction. It was slightly anticlimactic, so I don't understand the hype. We then walked through the neighboring park which is also famous because it's sidewalk is lined with at least 20 rock bands. The row of bands started with Elvis impersonators, 60s girls dancing, rock bands, reggae bands, pop bands. It was quite the sight and sound!

Leah started getting cranky at this point. We had been walking for 4 hours straight with no lunch yet. So, we grabbed some lunch and hopped the subway home, managing to make it back around 5 pm. After a quick shower, I don't feel so gross and sweaty anymore... but I'm afraid my legs won't move again this evening!