20240221 Takeshita Street, Harajuku's Tokyo

20240221 Today we take another train ride into the town of Harajuku's to check out the famous Takeshita Street where in 1978, the fashion building Laforet Harajuku was opened and came to be known as a fashion and retail centre. In the 1980s, Takeshita Street became known for teenage street dancing groups called takenoko-zoku, so from 1977, a Sundays-only pedestrian precinct was established by closing local roads. It's also known for wacky, youth-driven shops selling colourful and crazy clothes and accessories but it's also a paradise for sweets-lovers.

Sharyn, Hamish and Owen as we are leaving our unit and heading to Takeshita Street but first we have to walk to the train station and push our way through the thousands of people.

The area in front of Marunouchi Oazo shopping mall, the boys line up for a pic beside this carving of a life-sized Bear carved out of camphor tree and then painted with oil paint.

As you enter Takeshita look up and you will find yourself on interacting panel, which is switching between greeting you in different languages and turning into a live camera mode so that you can perceive yourself while walking thru the gate !

And there we are, the stars of Takeshita Street as we pass through the Gates (Mon in Japanese) which have a huge place in Japanese culture, especially when it comes to temples, shrines and some traditional style buildings or castles. In case its a religious place, it marks a change from the normal world to the divine world. As a fellow Harajuku lover, I like to imagine Takeshita’s gate is like a passage from the normal world to a colourful and fun one.

Unfortunately its drizzling with rain as you can tell by all the umbrella's walking down the street.

The girls high fashion outfits worn in and around Japan, their fashion is not what I would call slutty at all but rather cute.

Ash and his mate Levi checking out these claw machines, a total waste of money if you ask me but the Japanese go nuts over them. 

Ash isn't much better as he tries his luck a snagging a useless toy.

Some of the fashion as we wonder down Takeshita Street, don't ya just love that name "Takeshita".

A girls paradise in high fashion boots.

Just the lingerie I have always wanted, maybe 50 years ago but a tad too young for me these days, besides we do not want to give Des a heart attack, but going by the young girl's fashion in Japan, it right up their alley.

One of the funky stores along the street.

The boys pig out on burgers for lunch and their given black gloves so as to not get sticky hands, now that's different and Owe was real impressed by his gloves.

So while the boys eat upstairs Sharyn and I found a Shush Bar downstairs that stunk of raw fish but still a lot more appetising than a fatty old burger.

This would be raw squid that was rotating around the tables, and there is NO way I was eating that crap.💩

Sharyn in her highly expensive fashion rain coat approaches a young Japanese girl for a photo in her funky outfit.

One of the many lolly shops that line the streets, the Japanese are really into their sweets.

Candy A-Go-Go moto is: Its full of fun and smiling faces, children all over the world love colourful and fun sweets. We cherish the "many smiles" that children around the world see when they receive various sweets from their respective countries. Through sweets, we convey to children the smiles of the world and the joy of the world. We will contribute to the creation of a society where children can have dreams and hopes. We are confident that the smiles of these children will lead to the future of Japan. ``People gather in fun places''...We welcome our customers with a smile.

The "Capsule Lab is a store that offers a wide variety of popular capsule toys, making it a great place for children and adults to enjoy.

This is what's inside the Capsule Lab, just a whole lot of small useless toys if you ask me but the Japanese love their little toys and have them displayed on their handbags.

This was the first we had ever heard of these toys/collectable's, the Bearbrick, and the boys were going crazy over them. They are a collectible designer toy produced by the company MediCom in Japan and was derived from the cartoon figure of a bear with joints that swivel and a pot belly and are immensely valuable to collectors. 

Opps! no cameras aloud😨

In 1977, Mizuki Ono opened a crêpe shop in Harajuku and, taking inspiration from ice cream monaka, began to sell crêpes with ice cream, whipped cream, and sliced fruit, which became very popular but way too sweets for me.

Choco Monaka Jumbo is an ice cream product made with an ice cream and chocolate filling inside the traditional mochi wafers. It was created in 1972 and is a type of dessert (wagashi) which is served with tea.

After our big day out Grandma's recked, not really but it seems that's the trend in Japan, they all sleep on the trains.

After a day at Takeshita Sharyn and I escape the house leaving Phil at home with the kids. We found a nice little restaurant up a back street with the added bonus of a beer.

Good Night