Harajuku district in Tokyo has always been the epitome of youthful exuberance. Off beat, irreverent and often rebellious in nature, Harajuku has a life of its own.
Takeshita dori (street) just opposite the Harajuku train station is the place where this youthful subculture flourishes. Ever-changing and always trend setting, this is where the happenings are.
Cosplay, or costume roleplay, is the activity where the Japanese youth dress up as their anime or manga comic characters. Harajuku is where cosplay events dominates the weekend. The area just south of Harajuku Station is the grand mecca for all things relating to cosplay. This culture has even spread to areas outside Japan, including Singapore which has a large cosplay fraternity.
I shot this video around 2005. Sorry for the low-resolution as some of you had mentioned the slow downloads. If you want to see a high res version, click here
Akihabara, nowadays shortened to Akiba, is the gravitational center of all things you imagine the modernunconventional japan that is. Especially if you think electronics, gadgets, anime, cosplay, maid cafes, internet and all things that are weird and typically Japanese in nature.
Remember the time when Sony introduced the Walkman? Walk Man? The mind boggled at the 'japaneseness' of this word. Today we understand instantly but back when it was launched, you wondered whether to laugh or cry at the mangling of such terms.
And this is what Akiba is all about. Here in this city within Tokyo, the Akihabara Electric Town is the epitome of Japanese quirkiness.
The main focus in this place is consumer electronics. You find the latest gadgets here long before it is introduced to the rest of the world. I remembered back in 2002 when we were still selling normal 29" and 34" large CRT TVs (I work for an electronic retail store) and had just begun selling 14" & 21" LCD TVs, our jaws dropped when we saw whopping 42" LCD TVs being sold here! Hitachi it was, I can still recall.
Today, Akiba has evolved from purely electronics to the internet and video gaming arenas and more especially into the center of the anime revolution. Anime is the Japanese form of cartoons and animation. And this place continues to evolve, with maid cafes being the current craze.
Here in Akiba are found all the unusual things that you would normally only fantasize about out. Almost everything you want can be found in about 400 to 500 stores surrounding the Akihabara train station. Building after building, each 7, 8 or 10 floors tall, all catering to a certain aspect of the electronic trade. I went into Pockets, the store you see in the picture above top left (under the bridge). It sold nothing but used Apple products, all re-conditioned and looking new. G4 Macs were going for only US$300!
However, not everything is computer related. The building next door called Merci Love is an adult store with 8 floors of paraphernalia ranging from truly unmentionables for all your wildest fetishes to adults toys. to new as well as used uniforms and used underwear. (Whatever for, I'll leave that to your imagination)
Akihabara is that quirky side of Japan that you want to see. There is really nothing in the world that comes close to its uniqueness.
Even if you've not heard of Studio Ghibli, you might have in fact seen some of their anime. These include the 2002 Oscar winning animation, Spirited Away, or more recently, Ponyo by the cliff over the sea.
Since the 1980s, they have been producing classics like My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Laputa:Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service, NausicaaandGraveyard of the Fireflies.
If you have not, then you might want to watch this short compilation for a quick overview of the genius of Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli films.
Please Click on the picture if the top Youtube clip didn't appear.
On my recent trip to Tokyo, I just had to make a trip to the Ghibli Museum. It was almost like a pilgrimage to see the holy of holies where Miyazaki dispenses out his blessings on the world in the form of Totoro, Kiki, Ponyo and the likes.
Ghibli Museum is located in the city of Mitaka, about 15 mins out of Tokyo by rapid express train. To gain entrance to the Museum, an advance ticket purchase is required. Strangely, the tickets can only be ordered through the Lawson convenience stores using their Loppi ticket machines! For those who can't read japanese, it can be quite intimidating I tell you, but luckily, the Lawson store clerks were only too happy to help out bewildered gaijins like me!
Inside the Museum. Photography not allowed! hee hee.
Entrance to the Museum
The gardener Robot from Laputa:Castle in the sky.
It looks after the garden on the Museum rooftop.
This area was largely unknown to the tourist trade, being home to smaller corporations and suburban workers or salariman (salaried employees) as is commonly called by the Japanese.
However, Ikebukuro (pronounced Ee-ke-bu-kro) actually has the 2nd busiest train station in Tokyo after Shinjuku and is the terminal for the Narita Express and subways like the Ginza and Yurakucho lines. Deviously, the train station was built by 2 major departmental stores, the Seibu and the Tobu, built directly above the tracks. These are humongous stores where you can literally get lost within. You are fed directly off the train platforms into the department stores with its enticing sales and food outlets. Talk about retaining customers!
Over the past years, Ikebukuro has come into its own and is now a tourist mecca due to lower prices here than in more popular localities like Shinjuku, Shibuya or Ginza. More so, with the construction of more mega-malls like the Sunshine City, Amlux Toyota showroom, Louis Vuitton showroom, Mitsukoshi and Parco department stores. Yet, it still retains an old charm of Japanese culture with its myriad small neighborhood shops.
Ikebukuro at night
Amlux building houses the Toyota Showroom and Museum. A must see destination for sporting and car enthusiasts.
Family Mart is just one of the several convenience store located all over Tokyo. Commonly known as 'conben'. Others are 7-11, am~pm and Lawsons. Buying your necessities from these stores saves you lots of money. You can also have meals within most stores. Japanese goods store in Sunshine City mall
A Pachinko & Gaming parlour.
A Discount Store with its typical Japanese signages.
