November 18, 2012: Harajuku

I have been following the "Tokyo Fashion" blog for quite a while.  This guy lives in Harajuku and goes out and photographs young people wearing the latest fashions or even costumes.  Of course, I had to go there.

We took the bus to the train station, got on one train and then transferred to another.  The stations are supposed to be handicap accessible.  I guess they are if you had a scooter and could drive from one end with the elevator to get to the next level and drive back again to catch the train on the other end.  It would be a pretty long walk.  So, we climbed the stairs. Tomoko held Kenny and Kevin had to carry the stroller up the stairs. I just had to take care of myself.

There's a section on the train set aside for old people, the disabled, pregnant mothers and people with small children.  I eventually got to sit in one of those seats.  I think it was at least a half hour trip to the next station.  Kevin was starving again so we stopped there.  We went into a new shopping mall to get lunch.  This time we had Japanese style lunch.  You are each served with a big tray.  There was beef on top of rice, pickles, shredded onion, noodle soup and pudding each in their own little dish.  I missed that good bread we had yesterday.

As long as we were in a mall we shopped.  There was lots of housewares, handbags, children's stuff, some jewelry.  I bought a little wallet.

Then back to the station for the train to Harajuku.  The station was right in the middle of the action.  I wanted to look for the place where the kids posed for photos.  They moved from a bridge to a park.  We first came upon a group of guys dressed up like characters in "Grease" breakdancing to rock music.  Kenny loved watching the dancers.  He even did a few twirls himself.

We walked on further and found a group dressed like characters in a video game.  Kenny wasn't at all scared of the guy with a mask on his mouth and wearing a long red cape.  They were very nice and posed for us.

Kenny loves to give high fives.

He's so cute that the girls took his picture!

Next, shopping... We went into a small mall.  Everything was so expensive again.  Unfortunately, the clerks were very attentive so I couldn't snap any photos of stuff.  I saw some pumps covered with knitting that looked like a cat.  I think my pink poodle pumps are much cuter.  There was a shop selling beads and beading supplies.  I liked one store that just had weird stuff - sunglasses covered in rhinestones, pink plastic apes, necklaces made with kids' toys.

We needed to rest somewhere before the trip home.  We went to a cute little cafe.  Kevin and Tomoko had green tea cheesecake with coffee.  I had Irish Coffee and french toast.  The Irish Coffee was tasty but weak.  The french toast was delicious.

As we were walking back to the station we saw a small store that was up a short flight of stairs.  Tomoko and I went inside.  They were selling all kinds of cute bags.  I bought a pink kitty cat tote.

We were all ready to crash when we got home.  I went to bed. But, Kenny was full of energy.  He helped Kevin and Tomoko fold the laundry.  They told him "go give this to grandma" and he ran down the hall with all the items individually, including hangers and gave them to me. 

I told Kenny to call me "NaNa" and he does!  He likes when I tickle him and kiss his ears.