HARAJUKU
Harajuku
Guide - Harajuku Tokyo is a major fashion and shopping region, famous for
its
Harajuku Girls. We have
Harajuku Pictures and map.
For the
young and fashionable teenager, spending time in Harajuku (原宿) on the
weekends is practically a necessity. Even older folks will want to visit the
area, though, to see Meiji Jingu shrine,
Yoyogi Park or go shopping in
Omotesando or
Takeshita-dori. Harajuku is within
the special ward of Shibuya .
Harajuku Map - Highlights the key points of
interest within Harajuku. Alternatively you can see Harajuku within the
context of Tokyo on our Tokyo Map.
If
it's Harajuku's youth culture you want to see, don't even bother unless it's
the weekend and preferably a Sunday.
The bridge across the train tracks from Harajuku station to
Yoyogi Park is full of
Gothic Lolita or GothLoli. The
costumes are very outstanding and you can't miss them. It is funny to see
the surprise of the western tourists heading to
Yoyogi Park and
Meiji Jingu who clearly had not read their guide books fully on
Harajuku. You can hear their comments that make it very clear they just
don't understand what is going on. Essentially the youth who have dressed up
are just hanging out with friends, many of them come with the hope of being
snapped by one of the many magazine photographers who mingle in the crowd.
Failing that there are lots of western tourist happy to take their pictures.
See nearly 50 exclusive
pictures of GothLoli in Harajuku. See also Harajuku Fashion
and Harajuku Pictures
Gothic Lolita on Harajuku bridge
 Opposite
Harajuku Station, Takeshita-dori is a narrow
street packed with young fashionable people and lined with fashion boutiques
and cafes. This is definitely the place to be seen if you are young
Tokyoite, but well worth visiting as a tourist. Takeshita-dori represents
the cutting edge of fashion in Tokyo where you can see all the latest in
Japanese street fashion and then buy in the boutiques.
 Omotesando
is broad, tree-lined avenue leading downhill from the southern end of the JR
Harajuku station. This is the other
side to Harajuku Fashion and its challenge to Shibuya and
Ginza. Not only is
the street full of cafes and international brand clothing boutiques, but now features the very
up market Omotesando Hills. If Paris or Milan is the center of the world of
fashion design, then Omotesando is the center of world fashion consumption.
MORE SIGHTSEEING IN HARAJUKU
 Meiji Jingu (明治神宮), built in commemoration of Emperor Meiji in 1920, is Tokyo's
grandest shrine. Like all of Japan's major shrines, it's large in scale but
simple in structure, entered via a winding path and through a giant torii
gate. On summer weekends you have a very good chance of catching a
traditional Japanese
wedding in progress here. See
our detailed article.
Yoyogi Park is one of the largest parks in
Tokyo. In the springtime, it is full of cherry blossoms and people partying
under the trees.
Harajuku
Hotels
Looking for
accommodation near the Harajuku Tokyo?
The closest hotels to Harajuku are located around Shinjuku station and
on the same train line. See our
Shinjuku
Hotels section.
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