Old friends, old clothes

Well whaddya know? More blogs! Speaks to how much went on in the last weekend!

After the heroics of the fire/earthquake drill, I went to Harajuku, that part of Tokyo famous for edgy Japanese youths who dress up in all manner of funky and cosplay type clothes. I was going to meet an old classmate of mine, Ginga, who I last saw in early 2012.

Ginga in foreground - and hot damn my skin was flawless

As people do, Ginga had changed slightly since I last saw him, and I did a double take when he came up to me, for I did not recognise him in the slightest!

Taken later in the day, but demonstrative of me not recognising him at first

We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch, catching up over the last 5 years. For all that had changed, Ginga was still as dorky as ever (love you man), and I was laughing a lot as I told him he was exactly as I remember; something that was reassuring in a manner of speaking.

After lunch we went for a meander around Harajuku, which is basically a couple of streets filled with novelty and foreigners, needing little description really.

I could spend a LOT of money here on shirts

The madness of Harajuku

Some of the fashion here is so avante garde that even avante garde hasn't yet heard of it

I was telling Ginga this model needs immediate surgery, her eyes seem to have fallen down her face, or her forehead seems to be expanding vertically

Interestingly, for all the photogenic properties of Harajuku, a lot of businesses are not so fond of photography, as this sign can attest! I consoled myself by saying I'm not a foreign tourist, but a bona fide resident of Japan (it helps me sleep at night knowing I photographed their sign)

If you don't want foreigners taking photos of your sign, why'd you go and make it so photographable?

I realised today that I had inadvertently recreated a shot from late 2011, as seen below:

Shorter in tooth and longer in hair!

As we left Harajuku, I stopped Ginga, for I had seen something quite wonderful:

Like most kiwi kids, I loved Cookie Time cookies, especially when they could still be bought for $1. Walking in there was all manner of cookie products, my heart swelling with pride as I saw the 'Made in New Zealand" stamp everywhere. Indeed they use a lot of foreigners as staff there, so perhaps if my current employment opportunity falls through, I could try my hand as a cookie assistant!

I was very pleased to come out with a bag of broken cookie bits, just like what you can get if you visit the factory:

Cookies in hand, we continued on to Shinjuku, where Ginga wanted to see the new iPhone X. Walking through the labyrinthine passagees of Yodabashi Camera (a big electronics store in Japan), we finally came across it, and much as I expected, it was very much a phone, but I couldn't see the hype. What did get me excited though was the range of cameras and lenses they had, including a 100-600mm behemoth, costing only 600,000 yen ($7,500!)

Also, those of you who know me, know that I LOVE Christmas, perhaps to an unhealthy extent. Japan, in it's crazy way, is similarly inclined. Come November 1, the Halloween stuff is taken down, and immediately Christmas decorations spring up. Indeed walking around today in a shopping area I could hear Christmas Carols (which naturally made me sigh in delight).

I always love Christmas, but when shops start pulling it out I feel like a new (wo)man as well!

Ginga also insisted on going to an anime store (sigh), which had all manner of products with characters that all look entirely the same to me (I swear Japanese pop culture is wasted on me), but one product in particular leapt out at me, for being not quite like the others...

"At least introduce me to your parents first!"

Having taken a look around some shops, we moved our attention to food and drink, making our way to some bars and a restaurant. This was an opportunity for Ginga to try some new things (like beer and whiskey), and for me to sit down (I'd been carrying my entire camera set up all day). As the sun sets so early here (5pm), it made seeing the various illuminations on the streets very easy, some of which screamed out to be photographed:

Not strictly illumination, but definitely flashy!

Following dinner and drinks, Ginga and I made our way back to Shibuya, with him then carrying on to Yokohama, our old haunt during 2011-12, and I back to Komaba, where another day of fun awaited me.


Sunday it was decided that a mission out to Koenji, a district famous for having lots of vintage clothing/op shops was in order.

This is a very hip area of Tokyo, with lots of boutique shops. Most of them I felt a bit hesitant to whip out my camera in, but the range of clothing available there was phenomenal! Anything from turn of the century up to the 70s and 80s was available, as well as one shop that does some friggin' awesome shirts with all kinds of novelty prints.

Colourful polar bears in case you were wondering - unfortunately my arms are longer than most Japanese -sigh-

 There was one shop name though that caught my eye, again for obvious reasons - I think sometimes the precise English meaning of words is lost on Japanese (or perhaps not!)

Also not very accommodating opening hours!

The vanishing point effect the avenue had was quite eyecatching!

Ironically the vintage area of Tokyo had a not so vintage car storage system, very modern engineering!

 Of course like the more modern areas of Tokyo, even the op-shop centric parts are starting to show their festive sides, which only increased my joy (I can hear my mum and aunt screaming on the other side of the Pacific as they read this)

Kentucky Fried Christmas, yes please!

To wrap up this day of meandering through an eclectic bunch of shops, we decided to take a look at a park in Kichijoji, at the far end of the train line that goes past Komaba. We arrived as dusk was falling, so few photos were taken of the surroundings, but it made me keen to come back during the day (and indeed that is what I did today!)

Reflections of the park - in brighter light the autumnal colours would be reflected

There was a group of light poi dancers practicing at the park which made up for the lack of visibility of the park itself

Following this preliminary exploration we decided to head back to Komaba, which wrapped up a very busy and varied weekend, a great three days! Certainly appreciating the improved weather; I was starting to get a little stir crazy with the constant rain, not to mention my laundry was taking forever to dry (or I was having to get up in the middle of the night to rescue it from my balcony as the rain started!)

This week ahead looks to be a good one, I have a second round of interviews at the eikaiwa company on Thursday, so hopefully I do well there, and the Hult competition preparation is well underway. I'll be sure to take some more Wally photos around the place, and accordingly my collection will grow, ready for release to you and the world at large - something to look forward to! There'll probably be some more Christmas photos taken as well (and I look forward to your collective groans)

Tata for now,

Troy/トロイ