Takeshita Dori [竹下通り] - a pedestrianized street (between the hours of 11am and 6pm) in Harajuku Tokyo that is filled with restaurants, cafes, fashion and accessory stores and a lot of people. Most of the stores are aimed at the younger generation so you will see a load of students after school hours too.
When I first came to Japan, I would come here to buy whats known as Nama Shashin [生写真] ( unofficial or paparazzi photos ) of my favorite idol at the time - Nishida Hikaru. Today, they still sell Nama Shashin here of the most popular idols like AKB48, Arashi, and more.
If you are looking for some casual clothes and want to see the latest trends with young folks then this is where you should come. Get off at Harajuku station on the JR line. Close by is Meiji Jingu park which you can also enjoy. Harajuku is also home to one of the largest toy stores in Tokyo - Kiddy Land.
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Most of these photos taken today on Christmas day. Christmas is just another day in Japan. This years Christmas landed on a Sunday so there are a load of folks out n about.
The latter half of the photos in this post taken this time last year which I didn't get round to posting until now.
How many of you who have been to Tokyo have been to Harajuku?
There is a poll embedded in this article.
K-POP very popular in Japan. Which brings me to my fave Korean tune.
If you've come to Takeshita Dori to eat on a weekend however, be prepared to queue up for a long time.
Harajuku is also where you will find a load of Lolita and Gothic Lolita fashion too.
Here is a store selling those Nama Shashin that I was talking about earlier. Usually start from about 100 yen.
This is Daiso the 100 yen store - I think they got a few of these overseas too? The Harajuku store is huge and has just about everything.
Half of the 3rd floor has a load of storage accessories.
The first floor has a load of food.
When we first came to Japan, we wanted to save as much money as we could and bought our kitchen utensils from a 100 yen store - we still use them 12 years later!
More photos from the Harajuku area in a later post. In the meantime check out more places to visit in Tokyo below.
