Whirlwind Tokyo, Day 2.

luckily, we were able to sleep a bit later this morning and headed out just in time to catch the morning ritual of the Japanese department store.

Every morning, when the department stores open at 10 AM, the entire staff lines up along the aisles to greet the incoming guests. As you walk by, each employee bows and tells you good morning as royal and heroic music plays loudly throughout the store. Sure beats fighting the crowds for a doorbuster sale at Macys or Bloomingdales.

Next, we went to Harajuku, the epicenter of Tokyo youth culture. It seems there any people over the age of 16 in this neighborhood. Many of the girls are decked out in very short layered skirts and some are in full out costumes. The main street is a narrow pedestrian walkway lined with "trendy" clothing shops and cafes, but mainly it is wall-to-wall teenagers.

We passed by a small side street where people seemed to be gawking at something--or someone as it turned out.

If you can't tell from this small picture, he was an outrageous looking guy with spiky hair, tight pants and very heavy makeup and apparently a member of a popular boy band called "Loudly Riot". We encountered two other members of the band, equally flamboyant, hidden around the area. They were having a contest to see who could get a stamp from each member of the band. I'm unclear of what the prize was, but the teen aged girls seemed to be loving it. As did Will, who got 3 stamps:

On the other side of teen central, we saw the Togo Shrine, dedicated to the general who defeated the Russian army in the Russo-Japanese war.

It was a very peaceful place--quite a contrast to its neighbor. When we arrived, there was a wedding party having a photo shoot. The bride was in a hooded white gown and the groom seemed to American (or at least not Japanese) since he had blonde hair and his mom was wearing a bright floral dress.

On the other side of the shrine was a flea market. We got lucky because the market happens the first Sunday of every month, which this just happened to be. Each vendor had all kinds of antique Japanese items including fans, teapots, instruments, cameras, jewelry, art, etc. we bought a teapot and a print that was originally a age from the book that was published 105 years ago (if I understood the vendor correctly), and a copy of the record "Let It Be" with Japanese writing.

On our way back to the train station, we finally found a real noodle place. It was somewhat touristy, but it was delicious, and by far the least challenging meal of the trip.

We had just enough time to get our bags, hop on the Narita Express train to the airport. And after the active 2 days of running around, nothing was more welcome than being able to sit for 13 hours.