東京 Part 5-And the Crowd Stretched On

"I'm fascinated by the Japanese fashion scene
Just an American girl in the Tokyo streets-

Harajuku girls, you got the wicked style
I like the way that you are
I am your biggest fan"


-Harajuku Girls, By Gwen Stefani

For anyone who has visited Tokyo, there is a good chance you have been to-or at least heard of-the Harajuku area.  It is the place to go to shop, or just people watch.  As the song suggests, there is some pretty incredible fashion to behold at Harajuku.  Before we headed back home to Ogawa Machi, we stopped by Harajuku to see if we could find any gifts to buy for some family members.

Boy, were we wrong.

First of all, the tremendous influx of people entering and exiting the Harajuku Yamanote line station was positively insane.  Hundreds of people per minute. At least. There were several cops there directing traffic, which worked marvelously well.

When we finally emerged from the station, we were greeted by a wall of eager shoppers.  A wall.  I kid you not.  You basically just had to let yourself be carried along by the crowd.  If you are claustrophobic-don't ever go there.

We miraculously got through this street to the other side where I was delighted to see a Godiva Chocolate Shop across the street.  And by Godiva Chocolate Shop, I really mean oasis.  We indulged in some scrumptious dark chocolate ice cream blends to restore our sanity to functional levels before we braved the crowds to get back to the station.

As you have probably figured out, gigantic crowds are really not our thing.  I need space to shop properly.  But at least we can say we had the experience, right?

Right.