Harajuku

Went to Harajuku today. We walked around for a bit before finding some kind of event being put on by Vitamin Water. Enticed by free beverages, we took an elevator to the top of the H&M building to find a large exhibit of anime figurines. After looking around for a few minutes we went down a set of stairs into the Vitamin Water portion of the event where they had set up sort of a club atmosphere, only the drinks were fortified with vitamin B rather than alcohol.

After that, we walked to the Meiji shrine, which had the amazing feeling of being in the middle of a forest despite being located in a park in the middle of Tokyo. Evidently it's a very popular place for weddings, despite being packed with tourists, so we saw a couple processions while we were there. Those Japanese weddings were the most solemn weddings I'd ever seen. Then again, everyone might have just been in a bad mood because it was so hot.

After taking pictures at the shrine (and buying a good-luck charm for "victory"!) we left and walked around this nearby park. It was probably the most surreal place I've ever been. It's just a big park where people go to do... just about anything. By the entrance we passed by these groups of grown men dressed up like greasers from the 50s dancing around to old music. I'd never seen so many pompadours in my life... actually I don't think I'd ever seen one before that in real life.

As we walked along the sidewalk we saw the most random assortment of things possible. Jugglers, dancers, picnickers, Japanese musicians, foreign musicians, swordsmen, and a dog riding a skateboard to name a few.

Pictures to come.