Saturday, Dec. 6

Today was our free day to explore any parts of Tokyo we wanted to see before leaving for Kyoto the next day. Of course I couldn't pass up the chance to visit Harajuku, which is a major shopping attraction and trendy commercial area frequented by teens and college students. My roomate Lindsay, Lauren, and I decided to spend the whole afternoon there while the rest of our group chose to go back to Akihibara for the day.

We were ecstatic that we had so much time to explore all the stores we went past on our first walk-through. In fact we couldn't stop saying "Oooohhh I want to go in there...and there!" We spent most of our time along Takeshita street which had various clothing, jewelry, and odds and ends kind of shops. We also found a big 100 yen store which had 3 or 4 floors.

Lauren and Lindsay noticed that many of the girls passing by were wearing these shorts with wooly hemlines and wool lining around the back pockets. It wasn't hard to find them in the stores either, as many of the storefronts had the shorts displayed on outside racks. I was really surprised the fad continued during the winter, but I guess the warmer temperatures and popularity of leggings made up for it. Lauren liked them so much she ended up buying a pair.

Besides its hodge-podge of shopping places Harajuku is also well known for cos-play. We saw a couple of girls go by in lolita costumes, but nothing fancy or crazy. We passed by a few costume stores as well and went into one of them to see what kind of outfits they had available. I noticed some maid ensembles and fancy kimono costumes. The women employees in the stores were even dressed up, wearing layer upon layer of blouses and skirts. We definitely got a sense of the fashion trends in Japan throughout the day.

The time flew by but before we left Lindsay and I made some purchases. Lindsay bought a cool long sleeve shirt with the Harajuku mascot on it in Japanese lettering (which Noriko later told us meant "Pretty Pig") and I bought a set of leather wristbands, skirt, and cute pink and black leggings. So by the end of our visit we each had a little piece of Harajuku style to take back with us!

We met up with the rest of the group and took the train back to the hotel to drop our shopping bags off. Then Lauren, Lindsay, Rich and I went back to our favorite Italian place for our last dinner in Shinjuku. I was so hungry that this time I ordered my own pizza and finished it all.