Sadly, although we visited the famous Harajuku district on a Sunday, usually the day of choice for the Harajuku girls (and boys) to show off their fashion, we either didn‘t go to the right spot exactly or perhaps, being New Year’s Day, they were not out in force.
We did find a very few of the shops that cater to them, (but sadly also very much also to tourists). That said, we did see a few very fine examples of goth/punk/maid/lolita; sadly no photos - although there are a whole load of good documenting photography in books and on the web. I think the thing that is so bizarre is that there is not really any link to where the fashion might have come from; it is purely about taking visual icons and mashing them together with other visual icons without any understanding of what that icon represents. I guess this is primarily because in Japan, those icons have either never had that associated meaning or have lost it in translation. I can't think of many genres of music and fashion that juxtapose quite so awkwardly as goth and punk except in their flamboyance within the genre. In Japan, the music, and the ideology behind it, is no longer anything to do with the fashion; in the UK, certainly as a genre is gaining momentum, it is almost everything.
Perhaps this begins to describe something of urban Japan. Many Japanese youth know so little of the culture and heritage of their country that the cultural revolution, often driven by their passionate embrace of technology, grabs at western cultural straws wherever it brushes against them. Indeed perhaps this is true of most urban cultures; maybe it would be fair to say that many of us assimilate other cultures so rapidly that our own culture and heritage is washed away with the tidal wave of new styles of cuisine, music, style and so on. Certainly in the UK, because many English youth are rightly ashamed of some of the often barbaric expansion of the empire, we are, I think, often filling a void left by the shunning of that which has gone before.
As we left the focal point for the Harajuku tribes, we found ourselves in a sort of designer goods shop; having looked at the very few wares, we became aware that we were there at a lull in a event that was happening in the shop. There were two radio stars at a desk with a dj off to the side, and a queue of people waited to collect a small envelope with a typically Japanese dog (/cat!) on it; joining in, we found that it contained a plastic token which you would exchange for a turn of a small wheel on a large spherical machine containing a number of smaller perspex spheres. When you got your sphere, an attendant would open it for you and give you the mobile phone charm contained therein and also the chit of paper also within. We were then pointed towards the ramp to the next floor. What were we to do but play along with this most peculiar process!
On the second floor (what we in the UK would normally call the first floor), we found a whole load of unreleased(?) mobile phones and related products. For example, a bipedal robot, about 10" tall, that you can control via bluetooth (very cool); or a system where you can video yourself dancing to music, and it will add in visual special effects - once you are happy with the results, you simply point your cameraphone at the semacode and download the video straight to your mobile. This sort of stuff is the future - and with mobile technology Japan and Korea seem to be leading the way; we in the UK are very far behind, at least in terms of our usage and the pervasiveness of the mobile. One example of this is that most of the mobile phones can connect to the internet - nothing new there, but it seems to be one of the most popular ways of accessing it - forget your pc! Also seemingly the subway networks are fitted with cellphone masts - almost everyone on the tube is busy on their mobiles. Perhaps one reason for this is the combination of huge 3G networks and iMode - both of these are only just really hitting the UK.
Having looked at the wares on display, we wondered what was next - an assistant tried to explain: we were supposed to write, on our little pieces of paper, the numbers from cards stuck all over the place, each with a picture of a dog. Each of the dogs were different - some with shades, some looking happy, some cross and so on. We guessed it was some sort of market research thing and plumped for the dog associated with the product we liked best. Obviously I went for the robot's dog!
The third floor was the same sort of thing, whilst the 4th and fifth contained a bookshop and a cafe respectively. Each with dogs. Having collected our numbers, we returned to the ground (first) floor for the next stage! As it turned out, it appears we needed to collect the number associated with the same dog from each floor - the ‘standard’ dog. Alas, we missed our chance to have a go in the lucky dip for interesting prizes, instead only winning a packet of tissues each! Bah - the real prize was the enormous amounts of fun to be had by not really knowing what were supposed to be doing but doing it anyway (that and playing with a cool robot)!
Deeper into Harajuku, away from the popular streets we happened across an amazing building housing artists‘ studios (pictured) - the front of which was entirely covered in scaffold pipes running in all directions, behind which the whole face appeared to be painted as a piece of artwork in it’s own right. With no obvious gallery to be seen, we nosed around a little before heading on; before long we had hit the outskirts of another district where we stood and watched a troupe of female Taiko drummers performing on the street (video). I have seen 3 male troupes before and they are quite different - the women are more balletic and graceful; the men much more powerful and aggressive: pretty much as you would expect really, although both share their own versions of the same incredible sound.
Our next port of call was to be Tokyu Hands - a 7 floor craft / diy shop in Shibuya, but unfortunately it was shut; so headed back to the station; being temporarily distrcted by the excellent Taiko drumming arcade game (a version is also available for PS2 - Taiko: Drum Master). And then onto Shinjuku for a wander around; these beautiful trees were just outside the subway station.
Actually, by this time we were pretty worn out and ready to eat, so we went looking for a likely place. Shinjuku is obviously home to some of the seedier establishments in Tokyo so it took a little time, but we struck gold with a place just off one of the main streets and were soon installed in a little booth. Another surprisingly cheap meal - about £13 each including several rounds of food, 3 bottles of beer and 2 whiskies. I was struck by a number of things that the Japanese do differently; firstly, the receipt is brought with your food - so each time you make an order, you are left with a new receipt, the topmost of which shows your running total; when it is time to leave, you take this to the entrance and pay - so easy! I also really liked the push button bell on each table for service (and what efficient service it is!), the wooden keys to the shoe lockers and the whole private booth layout. That was pretty much it for the day so we headed our seperate ways until the morning and the Imperial Palace and Tokyu Hands….
