en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/8/b6893c0d0fe668b530c4c1875a040b5c.html
Honestly, there's little for me to do in Harajuku. Don't forget at one time I resided near that zone and probably lost 30% of my sanity with that damn Meijidori street perpetually preventing me any slumber at night. Yet I've been drawn to the area recently. It's not the fashion that gets me, but just the youthful countenance of the denizens around the area. Mostly, I patrol around Takeshita Dori. It's somewhat annoying at times since you have those African jerkoffs harassing customers. (You can bug some gaijin but never touch me!) However, I'm quite adept at dodging their annoying presence and merely saunter down the street purposelessly. Or rather my purpose is just to scan the crowds, looking for something.

What?

Mostly the young girls. I enjoy the various characters around the area. When William Gibson walks through such an area, he pays most of his attention to the colors and textures of the costumes. For myself, I'm looking into the people's souls in an attempt to extract a story somehow from their eyes and behavior. That's a huge difference in our writing styles.

Sadly, the only place I can really hang out is McDonalds. Probably one of the worst McD's in Japan. The place is horribly misconfigured. The top area is for smoking while a larger section is devoted to non-smoking downstairs, with a tiny staircase that my oversized Gaijin shoes can barely grip on when I descend with a tray full of food. Then the little outdoor part only seats at most say 10 people, making it a prestigous spot for people watching. But again I only attend the place to be inspired. Hey, McD's is what the youth can afford and doesn't bug the kids to get the hell out when they've overstayed their welcome. Mine as well!

Wendy's is actually a better version of McD's, situated near the Gap. Still the view isn't that great and the non-smoking section is a box jammed near the ordering area. Whiffs of smoke still occasionally filter in, but what can you do? I loved seeing this Image-kei cuty sitting two seats over yesterday. Her attention was completely focused on her cellphone. At first, I had a bit of a hard time discerning if she was a guy or not (too many adrogynous figures in Harajuku). But her face was really naturally pretty, although I coyishly attempted not to stare.

The best girl of the day was this slender hottie that joined me from the Omotesando station and walked with me all the way up to roughly the middle of Takeshita Dori. One of these Victorian lolita types. I chose to slow my gait to allow her a certain distance away from me while I occasionally looked back to see where she was heading. Eventually, she made her way towards this fashion store that seemed geared towards these lolita types. The girl was really cute in this frilly little victorian dress. I thought it was somewhat amusing that she decided to take a train all the way from Omotesando to Meijijingumae. It's only a ten minute walk. But I guess her poor little feet and misconceptions of distance somehow relayed to her tiny sponge in her skull that the 160-en was a better deal than having a nice exercise.

Well, I hope they open more accessible cafes out there. There's a few but most are in some cubby hole underground or stuffed on the second floor without unveilng their menu. And Starbucks there is far too tiny to be useful. Whelp, I guess if i want to continue to pursue my interest in hanging out with youth culture, I'll have to stick with McD's and Wendy's out there :(]]> Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:11:59 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/8/b6893c0d0fe668b530c4c1875a040b5c.html