Went to an area by the name of Harajuku yesterday. It was a pretty interesting area for a number of reasons. It was kind of like a Japanese version of Williamsburg, NY; although the above picture probably doesn't represent this very well. It had a lot of very trendy boutiques and shops selling one-of-a-kind 'thrift store' style clothes and shoes. Everyone walking around there was young, cool and uber-hip. I felt a little stylishly out of my league. The only reason I went was to go to the Ota Memorial Art Museum. (which did not allow me to take pictures inside) So, realizing I was in such a hip area, packed with people; I decided to soak it all in and see if some of it would rub off on me.
There were a number of these small back alleys with no car traffic and everyone was walking around window shopping. I stumbled on the Design Festa Gallery. It was an alternative co-op style gallery. Really just a re-habilitated building with rooms that acted as small gallery spaces. Similar to P.S. 1 in New York, I suppose.
Interior of the gallery.
This was a pretty fascinating part of the day. These are the 'Cosplay Gang'. Named for their style of clothes, or costumes really. They come out every Sunday and congregate on this bridge near the train station. It is a real event, with a lot of people around taking pictures and the 'Gang' posing for them. I'm not sure why they do this, as I looked in every guide book I had for an explanation. I guess it just started and is now some tradition.
Okay, last group picture- "Everyone smile!"
I literally turned 360 degrees from the 'Gang' and this is what I saw. The gate to Yoyogi Park, which is made of huge cypress trees.
The above gate leads you to this long pathway, which feels miles away from the trendy boutiques and the odd 'Cosplay Gang'.
Not sure what this is, but they look interesting.
Meiji-Jingu Shrine, built in memory of Emperor Meiji.
I walked in and saw this cute little girl being escorted around.
I turned around and saw this procession of people walking around the corner. This ended up being a traditional wedding procession. Talk about timing. If I had been 1 minute later, I would have missed this. Really an incredible sight to see.
The happy couple.
On my way home from the subway, I saw this woman wearing a kimono with bags from shopping. The whole day seemed like a bunch of contradictions, but everything really seemed to stem from the sentiment I mentioned in my last post about tradition.
2 comments:
From Wikipedia: "The most specific anecdote about the origin of the word "cosplay" was that Nov Takahashi (from a Japanese studio called Studio Hard) coined the term "cosplay" as a contraction of the English-language words "costume play" while attending the 1984 Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon. He was so impressed by the hall and masquerade costuming there that he reported about it frequently in Japanese science fiction magazines."
Great sites and you are so adventerous to walk around and take pictures of everything and everybody. I would be to shy.
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