Harajuku

Harajuku Fashion and Youth Culture

Harajuku is a famous center of trends in fashion and youth culture.

Takeshita Takeshita is an intense center of youth culture.

Omotesandō Omotesandō resembles the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Cat Street Cat Street is a trendy side street connecting Harajuku to Shibuya.

Shrine and
cenotaph The Tōgō Shrine and the Cenotaph of the Submariners are unexpected naval memorials in the neighborhood.

Visit by way of Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line. That's one train stop (or a short walk) north from Shibuya Station, and two stops south from Shinjuku.

The Anthropology of Culture and Street Fashion

Now I understand how William Gibson can write novels set in a very near future in which cultural or even fashion trends are the driving forces behind a highly technical thriller. As he points out:

The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.

Introduction
Getting to Japan, and some business trips to Tōkyō and Misawa

Asakusa, in Tōkyō
Buddhist temples, Shintō shrines, markets, back streets, and the riverfront

Torii or sacred gates at Okazaki Shintō shrine in Kyōto.

Shintō and Buddhism
Religion in Japan

Izakya in Shinjuku, Tōkyō.

Izakaya
Small taverns in Omoide Yokoshō or "Memory Alley" at Shinjuku Station in Tōkyō

Electronics shops in the Akihabara district in Tōkyō.

Akihabara, Tōkyō's Electric Town
Electronics parts and tools, the otaku lifestyle, cosplay, anime, and manga

Ameya-Yokochō market in Tōkyō.

Ameya-Yokochō Market, in Tōkyō
Busy market area under the Yamanote Line tracks

Ueno Park in Tōkyō.

Ueno Park, in Tōkyō
Temples, shrines, museums, and a mid-city burial mound

Wild fashions in Takeshita-dori in Harajuku, Tōkyō, Japan

Harajuku, in Tōkyō
Fashion, trends, and kawaii in Takeshita Street, Omotesandō, and Cat Street

Shibuya Crossing in Tōkyō.

Shibuya, in Tōkyō
Shibuya Crossing, commerce, entertainment, and shopping

Daibutsu, enormous bronze Buddha statue near Kamakura.

Kamakura
Daibutsu, the Great Buddha, "Five Mountains" Zen Buddhist temples, and samurai

Buddhist tomb markers in the enormous Okunoin cemetery at Kōya-san.

Kōya-san
Mountaintop Buddhist monastery complex, home of the Shingon sect

Daibutsu, the Great Buddha in the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara.

Nara
The Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji, sacred deer, Buddhist temples and Shintō shrines

Kofun, megalithic burial mounds in and around the ancient Japanese capital of Nara.

Kofun
Megalithic tombs of the legendary Emperors of prehistoric Japan

Meoto Iwa, the Wedded Rocks near Ise.

Ise
The "Wedded Rocks", the Grand Shrine, and the home of Shintō

Inari Taisha shrine in Kyōto.

Kyōto
Japanese tradition, shrines, temples, and food markets

Dōtonbori entertainment district in Osaka at night.

Osaka
Capsule Hotels, Amerika-mura, Dōtonbori, Den-Den Town, otaku culture

Graves of the 47 Rōnin at Sengaku-ji in Tōkyō.

Nikkō
Shrines, Temples, and Shōgun Tombs

Graves of the 47 Rōnin at Sengaku-ji in Tōkyō.

The 47 Rōnin
Samurai, Bushidō, and Revenge

Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni in Tōkyō.

Imperial Shrine of Yasukuni
Japan's shrine to its war dead

Katakana and Hiragana
The Japanese kana scripts aren't that hard to learn!

Complex Japanese toilet control panel.

Japanese Toilets
They're possibly far more complicated than you expect

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