MangoVine - Japanese Subculture Fashion at Takeshita Street, Harujuku

16 May, 2009
Saturday

Harujuku's Takeshita Street, across the road from one of Harujuku's station exits is an alley packed with pedestrians, including alot of punky adolescents, sporting subcultural costumes. They seemed drawn to the area to browse and shop at many of the kitschy stores selling outrageous gear and accessories.

As were made our way simultaneously checking out the goods and navigating our way through the crowds, I couldn't help thinking that only in Japan would some of the costumes displayed be seriously considered for everyday wear.

Street-level fashion seemed to run the gamut from extreme stage wear to slightly upgraded casual wear - enough to mark out an individual, but still within a recognised subculture. I guessed that this is what makes Japanese fashion so different and for me, fascinating to people watch.

Some girls looked to be prolonging their school uniforms with daring modifications and cute decorations, whilst other people were content with wearing practical versions of teddy-bear-style suits - probably of some Japanese anime character or other. This dude in green below hung out with a couple of guys demonstrating the Japanese art of conformity by dressing the same.

Get a sense of the atmosphere on Takeshita Street with this video below:

With cut-price accessories on offer, Linh was happy to browse until the sun went down, whereupon we stopped by in one of the fast food joints for fuel (not McDonalds, ugh!).

More photos of Harujuku's Takeshita Street on Flickr

This entry posted in : Culture. Japan. Shopping. Tourism.

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Japanese Subculture Fashion at Takeshita Street, Harujuku

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