A hat I tried on in one of the shops in Takeshita Street.For our afternoon sightseeing we went to Harajuku – more specifically Takeshita Street. The latter is a pedestrian street in the style of a typical Asian market area. Takeshita Street has lots of food kiosks, coffee shops and restaurants, but it is the clothing and accessory stores which are the main attraction. Harajuku is internationally known for its very experimental youth fashions, inspired by eclectic postmodernism and anime.
Harajuku is where the postmodern freaks (meant very affectionately) come to buy their gear, from French-maid outfits adorned with extra ribbons and lace, to studded neckbands, colourful hairpieces and plastic wigs, corsets, petticoats, skull-and-bones rings, purple cat-eye contact lenses, piercing accessories, hats, boots and furs. Fake fur, of course. You won’t catch a postmodern vegetarian wearing real fur. (They might wear real leather, but don't tell anybody...)
And while standing there, looking at these characters that stepped out of Japanese manga into real life, I suddenly felt very at home. It is one of those sad realizations one gets, when unexpectedly you know that these are your kind of people. These weirdos, with their inked faces and collaged fashions, culturally worlds apart from me, are in an enigmatic sense the culture I best understand.
I recognize that part of the reason I did my master’s degree research in Postmodern Identity was because I hungered, not so much to understand other people, but to understand myself. There I stood, hugging myself from the cold, staring at the freaks, and thinking – I could stay here for hours, for days. Who cares if I’m freezing?! These weirdo’s, these Gothic Lolitas, these Visual Kei, these Steam Punk Vampires are an outward manifestation of my zeitgeist. In this surreal space where the fantastic meets the mundane, this is where my mind is most at ease. At this collision point, at this overlapping of worlds, this is where my mind relishes.
I was disappointed to leave, but I had to get back to the motel to don my suit for the Gala Dinner later. It was shortly after my Harajuku visit that the running in the rain episode happened.
If ever I return to Japan, visiting Harajuku again will be a priority.
2 comments:
Oh yeah - me too I liked harajuka, inspite of the fact that i find it difficult to get a restuarant that suites my need, and the fashion was more of teenagers by then, to me though!! :-)
That sounds like a cool place.
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