Took the subway to Harajuku for the day – a section of Tokyo which is like Harvard Square in the 1970s and 10x the size. Basically the teenagers here are setting fashion trends and designers from around the world visit this region for inspiration.
I walked, and browsed, and shopped, and walked more, and walked even more. One highlight was experiencing my first Kiddie Land (the FAO Schwartz of Asia.) Three floors of American and Japanese toys.
Harajuku is the only section of Tokyo that has felt crowded to me. I came into this trip expecting congestion and a big city, but until today had not seen any real congestion. As you can see from the pictures and video, the streets were CROWDED with teenagers all day, and the occasional tourist.
Even though things are big and busy, everything is orderly. People wait in line calmly and silently to board the train or subway car. They wait until the walk sign is green before they cross the street. And no one starts walking until it’s green…even though all cars are stopped at the intersection and it’s obvious that the light is about to switch. Everyone crosses the street in an orderly fashion, in between the white lines.
For a nation with A LOT of smokers, you cannot walk and smoke at the same time. You can smoke in restaurants, and there are designated no smoking areas, but in general the smokers have the right of way. A complete juxtaposition for the rest of the clean and healthy habits of this region. Wiping your hands with a damp cloth before dining is common place. Even the fast food joints give you a moist towelette. All of the doors open automatically so no one is getting germs from touching door handles going in and out of stores, whether it’s a department store or a 7-11. No trash in the streets or trains or buses. Everything is so clean. No one walking around with a bottle of water or coffee so there is no need for lots of recepticles to catch people’s trash. There’s the occasional recycling bin for a newspaper and one for bottles, and the trash barrels you do find are small.
Cell phone etiquette is very polite too. I haven’t heard anyone’s ringer since I’ve been here. Everyone keeps their phone on silent. Sometimes you see someone walking and talking, but it’s rare. You don’t hear a phone accidentally go off in the office or shrine or restaurant. It just doesn’t happen. Culturally, it would be so unacceptable to stand-out by having your phone ring for others to hear.
Another cultural nuance I learned about: face masks. I had always assumed when I saw someone wearing a face mask it either meant they were ill and did not want to share their germs. Or another school of thought is it could be someone not wanting to intake the germs of the people around them (i notice the cashiers at 7-11 were all wearing them.) A third school of thought is that the person is feeling exceptionally shy that day, and the face mask is a sign to others that they don’t want to be noticed or have attention placed on them. It’s a very deferential and conservative society in that manner.
But back to Harajuku…..at the nearby park, there were entertainers dancing to Japanese-language American Bandstand style music. Hundreds of Japanese families were picnic-ing and enjoying the sunshine. Deep in the park is the Meiji Shrine which honored an emperor credited with modernizing Japan. He liked wine with his dinner and really embraced western and eastern cultures. At all the shrines in Kyoto and the Meiji Shrine today, there have been wooden plaques with characters on them, and the Meiji Shrine actually had a sign in English (very rare here) explaining that they all have various prayers and sayings on them, and if you want to write a personal prayer or message on the other side, the plague will get hung from a tree or alter someplace during morning prayers. All this for a small donation of 500 Yen, of course.
Food today: Kirin unsweetened iced tea for breakfast, “French toast with berries” for brunch (you’ll notice the portion size in the picture for 550 Yen), Y1348 for sushi, and a box of Chip Chop (triangle shaped chocolatey crisps) brings my grand total for the day to about $30. It’s a miracle! Makes up for the prices of yesterday. In Harajuku, there was a lot of non-Japanese food available: donner kebab food trucks, crepes, gelato, Italian restaurants, pizza and burger joints, and French pastries and coffee shops. It was actually hard to find Japanese food in that area.
Lilla Travels 