Japan trip report, with pics

[BretWeir]

Harajuku and Yoyogi Park

Back with a few more pics. One of the most fun (and strangest) days we had in Tokyo was when we visited Harajuku, the city's teenage fashion mecca and the center of the "cosplay" (costume play) subculture.

This is the entrance to Takeshita Dori, a pedestrian street lined with teenage clothes shops.



Some of the shop names were pretty hilarious, like these:





One of the more jarring things was how pretty blatantly sexual stuff was juxtaposed with super-cutesy "Hello Kitty"-type stuff. For example, these two places were about half a block apart, and seemed to draw a lot of the same clientele.





Harajuku borders Yoyogi Park, one of the bigger parks in Tokyo and home of the Meiji Shrine. Here's a "curb your dog" sign we found in the park with an interesting English translation:



Yoyogi is the place where, every Sunday afternoon, the cosplay kids -- teenagers who dress up like maids, schoolgirls, manga characters, etc. -- gather to show off their costumes. There were a couple dozen kids in the main gathering area, and they were more than happy to pose for pictures.







This was one of the freakier costumes; the guy in back was holding the bandaged guy's wrists and moving him around like a marionette.



And here's Mrs. Weir posing with some cosplay chicks.



Yoyogi is also where the rockabilly guys hang out on the weekends. These are a bunch of guys from their 20s to their 50s who basically dress up like 50s rockers, complete with leather jackets and huge pompadour hairdos, and dance to JPop-ified versions of oldies. In a stroke of incredible luck, the day we visited was "National Japan Rockabilly Day" (so said the posters up around the park) and they were out in force.







There were maybe 40 guys, some girls in poodle skirts



and one awesome candy apple red 1951 Cadillac, property of the Tokyo Rockabilly Club.



We then headed down the main drag of Yoyogi Park, which is where unsigned bands and other novelty acts perform and hope to be discovered.

These guys were my favorite. They had a real Flight of the Conchords vibe, complete with homemade promo poster. Only they were singing in Japanese, not New Zealandish.





There was also a breakdancing troupe called "Rhythm Sneakers":



and a guy doing tai chi-type moves with a samurai sword:



And when we headed back to the hotel that evening, we were greeted by this view of Mt. Fuji from the 49th floor window: