Harajuku Styles

Yes, you all know Harajuku from Gwen Stefani and her Japanese entourage. Just think Queen St. West, then notch it up about 20 times, throw in shops selling bizarre costumes that the teens wear out on weekends, shove about 20 times the people into one small area (throngs of cool, fashionable Japanese teens), loop Gwen Stefani songs in the stores and you have Harajuku.

Scott, Hooper, Brian and I wandered the street in Harajuku, checking out the shops selling crazy cracked-out Little Bo-Peep dresses, vinyl nurse and maid outfits and Rock Junction-like ripped black and plaid clothing featuring white skulls and safety pins. Oh, and don't forget stores jammed with the cowboy boots that all the women seem to be wearing here with their mini skirts.

I understand there are entire magazines devoted to Japanese costumes worn as fashion around town. I love it. Apparently it's often like a screwed up version of Halloween around Harajuku most of the time. We saw a few girls dressed up, but weekends are supposed to be when they come out in full force. Plus it's a little cold to be wearing red trashy corset lace cowboy outfits. I guess that's more of a summer look.

After spending the afternoon browsing - I would say shopping, but there really wasn't all that much that was practical to buy...I don't really see where I would wear a rubber slutty cop outfit covered in feathers around Toronto - we wandered down to Shibuya. It was dark and lit up with so much neon flashiness that you could barely tell that it was night. Shibuya has that massive intersection that has literally one thousand people crossing at once, you would recognize it from Lost in Translation. So I got a good feel for just how many people are crammed into this city.

We wandered over to get some cheap beer - yeah, a little too much beer - and cooked up our own meal of tongue, beef, chicken, squid, mushrooms, squash and peppers at the Korean BBQ. Then we all broke out the bo-peep dresses we bought and caught the subway home.

I'm bringing all of these looks home in six months. It'll be hot. You'll love it.