Crazy Harajuku Sunday!

04/12/09 SUNDAY

Sunday was a very special day for us :) I know it was Easter Sunday for most of you, but it was Harajuku Sunday for us! We met up with our traveling friends that we met in Hiroshima. 

Quick profile of traveling friends: (Gaijin = what the Japanese people call us foriegners)

Gaijin #1 – Dan - 24, from London, he's into filming and directing; fun, wild, and joker; loves to meet people and loves Japan! I think he looks a little like Neil Patrick Harris in his Doogie Howser days, with not so big of a forehead.

Gaijin #2 – Monique – 29, Philippino born in Australia, she’s an ER doctor!; fun, wild, and crazy; loves to be wined and dined, appreciates good food and service.

Gaijin #3 – Immy aka Imogen – 19, from London, she’s a university student (studying art history?); funny, vibrant, and has no fear; she usually roles with a posse. People usually take a double take when they pass her.

We love their accents! And after hanging out with them for an extended period of time, for some reason, Elgin and I start having wannabe British accents too J

We all decided to meet at the Harajuku station South end at 2:30pm.  When Elgin and I got there, we didn’t realize how crowded it was going to be. Maybe the South end wasn’t the best idea. So Elgin and I split up, created a home base, and kept our eyes peeled for anyone. There was actually a lot of people waiting to meet others at that station too. Luckily, we gaijins kinda stick out in crowds. Closer to 3:00pm, I waited by the gates and bumped into Monique! Yeah! So happy that one of them showed up! Then about 5 minutes later, we hear this loud scream and it’s Immy with like 5 Japanese boys.  She  was so happy to see us! She came over to us and introduced us to her posse. They were these boys that she picked up off the street. She needed help to get to our meeting point and they escorted her. Immy was really excited about Harajuku Sunday and dressed up for it too with the cutest skirt! Dan finally showed up around 3:30pm. Yeah! Off to the main shopping street.

It took us like 10 minutes to get half a block anywhere because Immy would practically stop every person in an interesting outfit for a picture. It was actually very entertaining and hilarious, because Immy would stop people for pictures and then they would want a picture of or with her. On the main shopping street, Monique bought a cute skirt to dress for the Harajuku occasion as well. And no, I didn’t, because I was being cheap. J Dan wore Immy’s bunny ears and the fun just began! Everyone would stop us for pictures because of Dan and Immy. They were so “kawaii” – cute!

Sooner or later, we made it to Yoyogi Park to have a semi-hanami party with no blue tarp. But we were satisfied with street snacks and a couple cans of beer J We sat in the park to people watch until past sundown. It was starting to get chilly with the skirts and so we headed off to the train station.

We went to Akihabara – Electric town. We weren’t too impressed with the shops on this street. Definitely not incredible deals, and not that cool electronics.  Immy said that she wanted to go to a “Maid” café/restaurant. After Immy asked maybe 5-6 men on the street, we found one maid café that wasn’t anything special. Then we found the café that Immy was looking for -- @HomeCafe. It was 5 floors of Maid cafes. Pictures aren’t allowed, so I can’t show you exactly what they are. The servers basically wear a cartoonish type maid outfit with stuffed animal like flare, it’s adorable. We didn’t actually enter and sit down because there was a 700 yen per person fee and each person needed to order a menu item, but we did get a good look of the place. Too expensive for us travelers.  Supposedly, the waitresses do cute things, sing, and act out on stage. The café’s customers were mainly men, so  we’re thinking it’s like a Japanese Hooters, except they don’t sell buffalo wings. I’m not sure if there are sexual connotations in this place or not, but it was very cartoony and cute, and full of red/pink hearts on the wall. Tita told us later that mainly men go there if they are away from home and miss their wives. It’s the men’s way of getting some motherly/spouse unconditional love because women always care for their men at home. http://www.cafe-athome.com/pics/?lang=en

Then we just walked the streets of Akihabara. We didn’t realize this initially, but I think we somehow found the “Broadway St” of Tokyo. First we saw several cute stores with maid uniforms and other anime type uniforms. Then we saw some interesting toys of some sort, and some more maid cafes of a different type, and then we realized we were on “Broadway St.” Doh!

Off to find something to eat! Yes, we found McDonald’s, the 100 yen menu is definitely affordable. 10:00pm at McDonald’s, you’ll see tons of people playing Fantasy cards, charging their cell phones, or making out. Yes, we actually saw two girls in a booth making out.  After McDonald’s, Immy decided to go back to her hostel because she had only slept 3 hours in the past 48 hours and couldn’t pull another all nighter.

Dan, Monique, Elgin, and I ventured off to find Karaoke near Tokyo station so we could merely walk to the Tsukiji market later. We found a deal at a karaoke place – 3500 yen per person for 2.5 hours of singing and unlimited drinks. At 3:30am, we left the karaoke place and started walking towards Tsukiji Fish market. We got to the fish market about 4:30am. It was quite chaotic in the fish warehouse, trucks, and carts seem to be ready to run you over etc.. We saw the huge tuna in the auction area, and tons of foreigners that were pushy and not really friendly. It wasn’t what we thought it was I guess, so we took the pictures, and left for home.