I’m sure that everyone living in Tokyo has their own favourite place. Mine happens to be here in Harajuku, a place that I’ve blogged about before. It’s a place where the platform shoes are as high as the stars, the stores are a wonderland of multi-coloured shiny things and the people roaming the streets are fearless and creative in their fashion choices. Since going to Harajuku for the first time, I’ve joined in and am well on my way to becoming the kind of Harajuku girl that Gwen Stefani always sang about. As such, although I will definitely be blogging other things, this beautiful place which is now a big part of my life will be fairly heavily featured on the Durham Students Abroad WordPress site! Don’t worry though – Harajuku will never fail to entertain you.

Two weeks ago, me and Sophie (one of the other Durham to Tokyo girls) decided to go and check out one of Harajuku’s many fashion walks. I had pre-bought an outfit for the occasion, of course, and successfully turned myself into a human marshmallow (courtesy of ‘Miauler Mew’ and ‘Bubbles Tokyo’, both of which you should check out online because their lines are insane). We arrived at the meeting point outside the Takeshita-Dori exit of Harajuku station to find a group of people in amazing outfits gathering to parade through the streets together. They looked like this:

 Outfits ranged from goth princess to rainbow explosion to pink fairy. Everyone is accepted here! ✌🏻️🎌🎶👯🌸

Harajuku is SUPER busy on a Sunday, and there were tons of people about, including tourists. As such, many pictures were taken. Everyone wanted pictures of the people who had shown up for the fashion walk, because these people are a sample of those who make up the beating heart of Harajuku and the reason for its reputation as one of the creative capitals of the world. I had my picture taken with a bunch of amazing people, and some tourists even wanted pictures of ME (am I a Harajuku girl yet?) which made me realise how insane it was that I had finally made it to the streets of this city, and made me feel less like an observer and more like a part of this place’s culture despite the fact that I’d only been here two weeks at that point. It’s my dream come true, basically, and I could cry. Here are some samples of the pictures taken that day (courtesy of Sophie and her fancy camera):

Shoe game 10/10

This girl is too cute for life

RAINBOW PLATFORMS

Another more recent Harajuku happening in my life was my trip to Sebastian Masuda’s Kawaii Monster Cafe. Sebastian Masuda is a designer I’ve mentioned before, currently exhibiting in the U.S.. His new cafe opened this August, and I had heard that it was just like his seeing clothes and artwork, only in the form of a cafe experience. So I expected an insane rainbow kingdom. I was not disappointed.

This cafe was basically heaven. You enter through a dark tunnel to find a huge carousel of ice cream, bunnies and unicorns. The staff (people dressed in the most absolutely ridiculous and wonderful ways ever) then show you to the room you’ve chosen beforehand – either the rainbow mushroom kingdom, the pastel macaroon sweets room, the scary cyber monster room or another one I didn’t get to see. The decor includes a ceiling made of macaroons, baby bottles hanging from the roof, walls made of rainbow mushrooms and more. Once there, in case you aren’t overwhelmed enough, you get a digital menu. All of the food is rainbow coloured. THE FOOD IS RAINBOW COLOURED. It all looks absolutely incredible (and tastes good too). It was so amazing that I got a loyalty card, and will probably be back every week of my life until I die. I was actually so excited that my hands were shaking when I was trying to eat. I’m going to drop out of university and work in this cafe (at this point I’m not even sure whether my jokes are jokes). Anyway, here are some photos to prove to you all that I wasn’t just on a lot of drugs:

I told you it exists

Mushrooms everywhere

These gals tho

New best friends forever

I’ve already since had more Harajuku adventures. But I’ll save those for another time. You should all come here, because it’s the best place in the world.

Peace out,

Sarah, Harajuku girl