Page 101 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

WESTERN T OK Y O  99

stopped by the authorities in the
mid-1990s, supposedly due to
worries about the rise in criminal
activities and main taining public
order. Sundays are still a good
time to visit, though, for the
weekly flea market. At the
entrance to the park you can
still see members of the zoku
(tribes) who used to perform
here, from punks and goths
to hippies and break-dancers.
7 Harajuku District
Harajuku District
Large advertising screens in Harajuku
Map 1 B4, 1 C4.  Meiji-jingumae
stn, Chiyoda line. £ Harajuku stn, generation artists and has upscale area. Farther up the
Yamanote line. Design Festa Gallery: a design-themed café-bar. hill from the footbridge on
Tel (03) 3479-1442. Open 11am–8pm Running parallel to, and south the left is the major landmark
daily. Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum of, Takeshita-dori is the more of Omotesando Hills. This huge
of Art: Tel (03) 3403-0880. sophisticated Omotesando. With complex is home to bouti ques
Open 10:30am–5:30pm Tue–Sun.
Closed 27th–end of each month. & its wide, tree-shaded side walks such as Jimmy Choo, and
and dozens of boutiques show- specialist luxury-goods stores,
Harajuku station was the main casing top fashion designers and as well as dozens of brand
station for the 1964 Tokyo brands such as Celine, Fendi, stores such as UGG Australia
Olympic village; that and Dior, this is one of and Catimini. Over the pedes-
concentration of inter- the best strolls in Tokyo. trian bridge to the right is the
national culture had a As you walk from Harajuku Oak Omotesando Building.
great impact on the area, station, just before the This two-story shopping zone
attracting the young intersection with Meiji-dori, has an impressive glass façade
and innovative of off to the left you and houses several luxury
Tokyo. Today Harajuku will see a small brands, such as Coach and
remains a center for street leading to the Emporio Armani, as well as
fashion from high-end Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Japan’s first Nespresso boutique.
inter national showcases Museum of Art, which Just before the Oak Omotesando
to bargain boutiques. houses one of the best Building is the vermilion-and-
Takeshita-dori, a narrow collections of ukiyo-e white Oriental Bazaar, a collec-
alley bet ween Meiji-dori Street performer prints (see p89) in tion of shops full of real and fake
and Harajuku station, is in Harajuku Japan. A vivid image antiques and good handicrafts,
the place to find what’s of a Kabuki actor por- ideal for souvenirs (see p111).
hot in teen fashion and culture. traying a superhero in the
Sundays bring the biggest classic aragoto style by
crowds. Prices range from cheap Sharaku and a masterful
to outra geous, as do the fashions. program of a memorial
Starting from the Harajuku station Kabuki performance by
end, about 200 m (220 yards) Hiroshige are among many
down, a left turn leads up familiar works. There is a
some stairs to Togo Shrine, small restau rant and a shop
founded for Admiral Togo, the selling prints and other
commander who defeated ukiyo-e-related souvenirs.
the Russian fleet in the Battle Just to the left down
of Tsushima, which was part of Meiji-dori is LaForet, a
the Russo-Japanese War. It was fashion mecca, with more
a huge naval victory, the first of than 150 boutiques.
an Asian country over a Western Leading off Omotesando,
one. Admiral Togo remains a just before the pedestrian
hero in Japan, and his shrine has bridge, a narrow lane to
a beautiful gar den and pond. the left is lined with
Located a few blocks east of the boutiques of up-and-
shrine is Design Festa Gallery. coming designers
This post-Modern, bohemian and gives a good idea
gallery focuses on future- of residential life in this A group of teenagers, Harajuku

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