Harajuku/Head Power
So we strolled around town this morning, then ended up running to the train with Robert, arriving just as our train to Shinjuku pulled in. We made it just as it was about to pull out. Robert gave Emily some directions to Harajuku on the train while I talked to a man named George from Turkey, who gave me a very long lecture on why Islam is the one true religion, and Allah the one true God. Robert left for class when we got to Shinjuku, and we were on our own for the rest of the trip to Harajuku. It took us a few minutes to get oriented in the subway, or, more accurately, for Emily to get oriented in the subway. and drag me to where we needed to go.
When we arrived, we went to the Meiji Jingu shrine, which is apparently one of the finest shrine in Japan. We walked through the main area of the site to the shrine at the center, and watched part of a ceremony of some sort. There were stands everywhere with various types of charms for sale, including charms for traffic safety, passing an entrance exam, and loving ties in a relationship, among others. There were also small poems, called ‘waka’, (of which 10,00 were written by one of the emperors, and 30,000 by his wife) for sale for 100 yen. We made our way through the shrine and back out the North entrance of the shrine site, then worked our way back up to Harajuku street, passing a Subway, an AM/PM, and several other oddly familiar yet unfamiliar sights along the way.
Harajuku Street is sort of a super-trash trinket/subculture-fashion-boutique shop heaven/hell. There are stores that cater to the Gothic Lolita set, shops for faux-vintage punk rock clothing, shops that are filled completely with pictures of pop stars and “visual kei” rockers (something along the lines of Kiss tribute bands). Emily picked up an Astro Boy messenger bag and a watch with a robot on it that unscrews and can be used as a pocket watch. I stopped for a quick bite at Cafe Noa and had a ham sandwich (which was delicious, and surprisingly, spicy) with a melon soda.
Next stop was right around the corner, at Book Off, a store filled with an unbelievable amount of manga for anywhere from 100 yen and up. There is nothing to compare with this store in the American comic book world. Here, there is a wide variety of subject matter, style, and genre, and comics aren’t viewed as collector’s items in any sense. I had no idea what I was even looking at, as it was all displayed spine out, with mostly Japanese writing on the spines. There were a few titles I recognized, and a lot of stuff that I randomly picked up off the shelf just to thumb through that looked interesting. I almost bought a book called Alien 9, the plot of which appeared to be as follows: Giant alien creature sits on school. Children with winged helmets try to move it. It eats one of them. They fly around and try to move it again….etc……
Then we met Robert back in Shinjuku, and had a quick bite to eat at Cafe Jr. Italian Tomato. We had a variety of spaghetti dishes, and I had a very delicious peach tea with my meal. And then we made our way to Head Power, a small club with tiny ceilings, where Robert’s friend was playing at a synth pop show. Robert was doing sound for him (which basically consisted of pressing “Play” in iTunes). We were on the guest list, but apparently, “guest list” in Tokyo means you pay 300 yen less than everyone else (so about 2300 yen admission) and you get a drink ticket. Hmm….There were a few bands playing that night. First up was a synth-pop duo, with female vocals. Kind of bland and structurally weak…eh. Next up was another duo featuring a vocalist and a key-tar player. They started their set wearing plastic hats emblazoned with the American flag. Between songs, they did a lot of talking, all in Japanese, so I was completely lost. They must have been pretty funny though, because they had the audience laughing every few lines. They had a third member join them on air guitar (yes, air guitar), for the final song.
Next up was Secret Secret, Robert’s friend. 80′s style semi-gothic synth pop duo. The frontman (Robert’s friend) was dressed like a Marilyn Manson clone, complete with fuzzy top hat, and gave white plastic roses to lucky audience members (like me and Em!). He was pretty entertaining, and the crowd had him do an encore. Then it was time for my favorite group of the evening, Plumsonic! Another synth pop duo, this time featuring a female vocalist and a keyboard player/powerbook jockey. The singer had great dance moves and was striking some insanely cool poses against the spotlights and fog machines. I got some great digital photos of her….Then the final band, the Soyuz Project started up. They actually had more than two members, including two powerbooks, a guitarist, a couple keyboards, etc. We left shortly after they started, and made our way back to Tokorozawa.
I’m at the Ushio house now, where the wireless interet hook-up is. We had tea with the Ushio family just now, and talked about the cookies and cakes they served (all of which have interesting stories behind them), various anime and manga artists, and the Edo era museum we’ll be visiting soon. Whoo! big day. Here’s some photos for y’all, as a reward for making it through all that….
At the Hub
At Head Power
Key-tar Rock
Meiji Jingu
Our House in Tokorozawa
Plumsonic!
More Plumsonic!
Secret Secret
Shinjuku at Night
Mr. Wasabi Fingers
More later….
