Tokyo weekend & Foo Fighters gig report (part 2)
Right - let’s continue my Tokyo report. Sunday was a beautiful day, weather-wise. And I had a really good day with a friend from Okinawa. She’s now living in Tokyo and we arranged to meet up at Shinjuku. We had a drink and then went over to Harajuku to have a look at the fashions and the people posing for photos. For those readers who might not be familiar with this, Harajuku is an area of Japan with what can only be described as… flambouyant fashion rules. All conventional rules go out of the window, especially on a Sunday when the streets are filled with senior high school girls dressed in the most outrageous outfits. The “goth”, “lolita”, “punk”, “mod”, and many other styles were all out in force, as well as inumerable others. I’ve become pretty interested in the Japanese fashions, and seeing the Harajuku ones was quite an experience. At the station, you could see groups of girls crouched down with little suitcases, applying make-up and putting their costumes on. They then go walking around, posing for photos and generally parading throughout the day. As the sun sets, they head back to the station, change back into their normal clothes and return to the faceless suburbs of the Tokyo sprawl. I read in a few places that a lot of these girls are bullied at school, and dress like this to assume a completely different identity for a day. When they change their clothing and make-up to this extent, seeing the person underneath is almost impossible, which I suppose, would be their aim in this situation. If is fascinating though, and something I would really like to find out more about (e.g. what motivates their choice of fashion etc). I didn’t take any pictures here, but will leave you with a photo posted on Wikipedia by a user called Mushroom:
The rest of the afternoon was spent in Ikebukero and then dinner was taken at a very nice Italian restaurant back in Shinjuku. Said a couple of sad goodbyes to my friend in the early evening as we went our separate ways. I’ll miss her as we’re pretty close and her next trip to Okinawa is only going to be during the Obon festival next August. That’s far too long a time to go without seeing her so I might have to make a trip back to Tokyo or meet her somewhere in the mainland for a weekend away. But we’ll just have to see what happens with our travel plans and when we can both get time off work.
And that just about wraps up Sunday’s events. On Monday most of the worls was back at work, so I decided to head over to Omotesando Dori at the end of Harajuku and do some Christmas shopping. Headed to the Oriental Bazaar which I’d normally despise, but they do have a lot of Japanese things - good quality pieces and decent prices. People always ask me to send them “something Japanese”, and yet Okinawa is so different from Japan and most of the things that people normall associate with Japan. It’s nigh-on impossible to get hold of a geisha, samurai, sumo picture etc… the most exciting things you can get hold of in Okinawa are shisa, and some habu awamori (the local firewater, but this type’s got a snake in the bottle!). So I did shopping there and then made a fun trip to Kiddie Land next door and marvelled at all the rather cool toys and gadgets there. Had some lunch with a Japanese friend at a very nice restaurant called Sign, just outside Gaienmae station, before heading back to Roppongi. I couldn’t leave Roppongi without having a wander around Roppongi Hills - the huge residential/office/expensive shopping part of this district. Almost got lost a couple of times in the building, but I eventually did a full lap. I also managed to find a Hysteric Glamour shop. Now, for the uninitiated, Hysteric Glamour is one of the fashion labels for the cool kids in Tokyo. Very stylish clothes with pop-art prints and impressive price-tags galore! Had a wander around and it was all very nice stuff. I then founded a hooded top which was pretty cool, and looked good on me. Decided I’d been a good boy this year and that I deserved a Christmas present for myself, so splashed out on it. Well, you only live once. Incidentally, in Japan this label is pronounced “Hysteric Grammar”, which seems quite appropriate if you’ve seen the English sentences that are printed on most tops in Japan! I’ve since given the sticker they threw in the bag to one of my female 3rd year students and she got very excited at the prospect of having something with the Hysteric Glamour name on it. Bless…
And so finally we move onto the Foo Fighters concert at the Nippon Budokan. This was their first concert in Japan for 8 years, and the show was a complete sellout. I got there about an hour beforehand and managed to get a decent standing spot. I also started chatting with 3 Japanese guys who were at uni in Tokyo. They were pretty cool and we chatted about English music and Japanese music, our favourite bands etc… the usual stuff. As for the concert itself, unsuprisingly, they were pretty awesome. The songlist was taken mainly from a tour they’d done a while back, opening with All My Life and then My Hero. There was the usual bit of talking between the songs, and the crowd even seemed to understand most of what was said! Taylor Hawkins did the vocals for Cold Day in The Sun, and the band finished to an amazing reception with Everlong. I don’t think anyone could have come out of there disappointed, and I was well pleased I’d made the trip. I headed into Shibuya with these guys for a post-concert drink and then headed back to Roppongi for my last night.
And that just about sums up my entire trip. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. Next time I write will probably be about diving, and I already have an idea of a news story I’ll share with you. Until then take care, dive safely and let me know what you think of my literary stylings!
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Wow sounds like you had a fun trip. Harajuku sounds like an interesting place. See you soon.
Thanks for the comment. Harajuku was very interesting, but if you go there I strongly recommend you do it on a Sunday - that’s when most of the people go out parading their fashions
Hi Dave,
Tokyo is still on my list of things to do (plus a few other things as well, does Goldfinger ring a bell?) so I do envy you!
That girl in the picture, your friend from Okinawa I assume, looks like a keeper!
Sounds you had a blast all around. Good on you.
That was ofcourse not Goldfinger, but Goldmember that I was referring to, Austin Powers and his list of things to do. Big DUH!
Due to an unfortunate schmelting aczident……..
Yeah - it was a good trip and she’s a really nice girl.
BTW, could I interest you in a smoke & a pancake?!?
Hi Hon,
Sounds like a pretty good weekend, busy though! Glad you caught up with your Okinawan friend too.
Hey, I must be improving, I’ve heard of the Foo Fighters (though don’t ask me any more than that…). But if you have anymore karaoke questions on the 80s you know who to call.
Take care
Bim x
You’ve heard of the Foo Fighters… either you’re getting more worldly in your old age or my taste in music must be getting old!
Will keep you in mind for any more karaoke questions!
A schmoke and a pancake?
Uhm, let me first eat some of those crisps, mmmmmmmmmmmm.