Sunday in Tokyo all seems to happen towards the west of the city. First off, the Meiji shrine. Opened in 1920, it was destroyed during the war and rebuilt afterwards. This wooden torii gate is the largest of it's kind in Japan, made from massive Taiwanese cedars. 1 million people visit Meiji over the new year period, and although not reaching those numbers when I was there, the Sunday crowds were everywhere. Roughly a 50-50 mix of Japanese and Westerners, everyone was out taking pictures, especially of the Shinto weddings that were going on.
There was a special festival happening inside the main shrine courtyard, just for that one Sunday. 'Doll Thanksgiving Day' is a nifty and rather sweet idea where you can offload those dolls and toys that have outstayed their usefulness. You hand them in, and they are arranged in these large doll grandstands (this was only a small percentage of them). The idea is, they are blessed and then disposed of "in a fitting manner" (incineration). It acts both as a good way of saying goodbye to toys when you've outgrown them, and saves you from cluttering up cupboards with boxes of forgotten playthings. Young kids taking part in the wedding processions accross this courtyard had to be restrained by their parents from bolting off into what would surely be a toddler's toy heaven.
Now this...is a quiff. Even on my spikiest of days, I can't compete with this chap. On Sundays the Rockabillys come out to Yoyogi Park and do their thing, much to the amusement of tourists. Essentially, they just play loud music and stand around drinking beer, but it gives them an outlet for their fashion. I sat down and watched them for a bit, and an old Japanese man started talking to me (this happens a lot in Tokyo), explaining what was going on. He pointed at this man, miming his enormous haircut, then said "Monday...at work...", before mimicking a swooping flattened combover style. "Much, much hairspray!", he chuckled.
The Cosplay (Costume Play) hordes and their watchers outside Harajuku station. Just round the corner from the Rockabillys is the famous patch of teenage girls who dress up as outlandish anime and manga characters. This spot has to be the highest concentration yet of Western tourists, as they queued to get pictures taken with the girls, most of whom were only too glad to pose for the cameras. It all seems a bit strange to me, and just at the edges of each scene were middle aged men with zoom lenses.
Takeshita-dori - the place to shop if you're a Harajuku girl (Google it). I'm not so much, of course, but nobody can resist teenage craziness, so I had an amusing - and cramped - wander along the tiny pedestrian street. The thing is, after a while, the kawaii pink madness dissipates and the clothes shops get pretty decent. I went in a few of the men's ones, and even managed to find myself a new golfing jumper. How hardcore is that - shopping for golf wear in Harajuku? Not only am I bucking the Tokyo trend by purchasing naff sports equipment in their hottest urban area, but next time I take to the East Lothian links, I'll be the only player ever (I would think), to be clad in an outfit bought from the hub of the Cosplayers.
And while we're on Tokyo stereotypes, here's the quintassential night view of the city - Shibuya's Hachiko crossing. As seen in every Tokyo film or travel piece, the hordes of people spill over from every direction at two minute intervals. In fact, when I was crossing it before taking this, there was a French film crew doing a piece to camera in the middle - dashing out as the lights went and then standing in the middle of the throng, waving arms around as only a French TV presenter can.
