day 63! harajuku, shibuya, takadanobaba

Wednesday of this week, I had another appointment with Meg, but again it was at 8pm after her work was over, so I had the morning to go around.

Since Edwin hadn't seen Harajuku yet, I thought it might be nice to go and walk around there, since it's a district with a very distinct style and feel to it. Took the Yamanote line to Harajuku station, which is only about 5 stops. 

Right when you exit the station, you see one of the entrances to Takeshita-doori. Saw the sign for "AKB48 Official Shop Harajuku" and had to pop into see what sorts of horrors of idolatry resided within.

Yeeerp. That is 48 different dolls, for each of the girls in the group (actual pictures provided for comparison). I wonder if anyone actually owns the whole set? More likely that you'd just buy the doll for your favorite 1 or 2 girls.

And if the dolls get old, here are posters, clear plastic file holders, pencils, etc.


But really, the fact that there are 48 of them is kind of a smart business idea. I heard that their most recent single became the highest selling single (of all time, in Japan?) thanks to one clever tactic: they included some special edition photos of a random girl in each single. That way, die-hard fans had to buy many many copies of the single to collect the photos of their favorite idols. Diabolical, no???

Walked halfway down Takeshita-doori just looking around, not buying anything. But of course this gem caught our eye. :) Crepes! They used to be a Harajuku-only sort of snack, and there are two stores that have been open on Takeshita-doori for ages. More recently, crepe shops have popped up in Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro...pretty much everywhere.


Every store has like 50 different choices, since it's just the same few ingredients rotating their way through all the crepes. Some have ice cream scoops in them, others even have tiny slices of cheesecake. There are also savory kinds, but I never get those (ice cream crepes ftw!).


It's the perfect food for girls shopping around Tokyo though, because it's sweet, not too filling, pretty "cheap", and you can share with friends. Most importantly though, it's cute and stylish-looking, with ties into France, a culture beloved by Japanese people.

Mmmmm chocolate ice cream :o :o Haven't had ice cream in a while!!

A bit further down Takeshita-doori, this costume shop has been open a long time too. I don't know how the hell they stay in business; I haven't seen a single person buy anything here, only people taking pictures, but 4 years later it's still here. The costumes they sell are seriously wacky, kind of like Halloween meets Vegas meets pirates meets bondage.


Walked the rest of the length of the street, still just looking around, no shopping. Since we didn't know what to do next, I took my usual route back to Shibuya. Took him to my favorite department store + museum, La Foret (I went there before and took some pics of it, earlier when Kurt was here).

But still found some awesome window displays to surreptitiously take pictures of. Crazy moose all decked out in bling. I don't know what line of work this falls into...interior design? Graphic design? But I'm so entranced by this sort of thing. Marketing + people + art + whimsy....I'm just really fascinated by it. :)


We stopped by one store, they had these awesome rings that looks like a little stag's head popping out of your hand. Really cool and unique, but had a hefty price tag of $200. :o

Crazy sunglasses! I've yet to see these worn anywhere but if I were to, it would probably be in Harajuku. :3 Edwin left his sunglasses at home so we went to buy a pair yesterday, in Shibuya, and I was lamenting how there weren't any cool sunglasses to try on. They all looked the same. If only I'd come here first...

A more ordinary store, no bizarre deco near the front, but still really well lit and nicely laid out. :) And all the bags are so unique!

Ok back to weird storefronts. This store barely has walls, and yet they erected a tower of confetti to serve as one side of the store. Who does this?? Whose job is it to shred and lay out confetti all day??

Spotted a Lawson and popped inside to buy tickets for Ghibli. These red Loppi machines are the ones you use to order tickets in advance, which is required for going to the Ghibli museum. This time since I bought tickets well in advance, there were plenty available for next week. Yatta!

A little tiny restaurant/snack shop next to Kiddyland in Harajuku. The words "French Toast" caught my eye and I knew right away that...in about 15 minutes I'd be eating french toast. :x

I was correct! There were a few different toppings to choose from, berries, cherries, etc. but I wanted marmalade. The marmalade was actually made fresh, and the orange peels were quite zesty.

Another counter seat with a mirror over it. BLONDEEEE!~ My eyes aren't closed btw, that's just how I look when I'm looking down. :(


Did a bit more walking around, and then decided to eat a proper meal. I know, I know, we haven't done anything today except eat crepes and french toast and other girly snacks. >< But we have!! I just don't remember to take any pics as proof. D: But take my word for it, we hadn't eaten any real food yet so we went off in search of some "new" Japanese food that we hadn't had a chance to try yet.

Went with tempura. :) There's a fast food chain here called Ten-ya, where you can get tempura. You can either get a ten-don (which we now all know means tempura on rice), or you can get tempura with other meal sets. I chose to get zaru soba + tempura set, which is kinda like what Kurt and I and okaa-san had for our fancy dinner in Kyoto. :)


Took a while to figure out how to order what we wanted, there were too many possible meal combinations and I guess I couldn't interpret the menu properly. In the end we had to go with the English menu. :x I am shamed desu.

Made it back to Shibuya! Saw this fake food display at a restaurant/cafe near the station, didn't actually eat there but I had to take a picture when I saw the price tag on it. $40? Holy crap. It is quite an impressive collection of fruit though.


Wandered around Shibuya for a while, went to Shibuya 109 and did a bit of shopping -- bought two different tops at a store called Cryx. Eventually it was time to head back to Takadanobaba to make my appointment with Meg.


Today was the last day before the contest so I figured it would take all night. My hair was completely bleached, blonde, and ready for dye; they had to add whatever color they wanted in my hair tonight, as during the actual competition there would be only time to cut hair. Meg was also going to do whatever last minute preparation cutting she might have time for.


But as I'm sure you've all surmised, Meg was Meg, it took us half an hour to get started, and even then she wasn't sure how she wanted to color it. She was still wondering out loud "what about blue? blue is good. or should i do red?" Oh, also, I finally got to see some of the other models! Up til now I'd only maybe caught a glimpse of one. For SOME reason, none of them ever seemed to need to stay in the salon as long as I do. :| Nope. But today, they were all gathered. I couldn't blatantly stare at any of them, but I saw one girl with this nice blue color in her hair. She was super skinny and very modelesque, with a very interesting looking face. Another girl who looked like hapa. And at least one more girl that had crazy red in her hair. Compared to my bright blonde.... I don't know. Can't say I didn't have at least a second or two of hesitation. :)


In the end, they separated my hair into a bunch of layers, painted gunk all over all of it, and I had no idea what it would look like til it was done.


But.....once it was all washed out:

(front)

(side)

The coloring took ages, even with the help of another really nice nice girl there named Katagiri-san. I couldn't figure out her relationship to Meg, whether she was senpai or kouhai. She spoke politely but not deferentially, but she did go out of her way and took extra time to help Meg out. I dunno, but her presence was very calming. :) She felt quite motherly, almost. She knew that I didn't speak Japanese too great, so she would just always ask me, slowly "How was it? Did it burn? Was it ok?", referring to the bleach. Over the last few days most of the stylists there had seen me pop in and out, and had witnessed my hair transformation, and so now instead of not-so-subtle curious glances, I get smiles and head bobs. :) It's kinda nice.


But yah, most people don't know my background, or how Meg found me, or that I'm not Japanese, so I'm always a little worried that they think I'm rude cuz I don't address anyone or say anything. Katagiri-san is nice though, and I'd been saying hi and giving her a smile and a wave when I see her. Meg had another senpai too, Yokokawa-san, who seemed pretty nice and indulgent of her. She originally told me, during her first proposal, that she would have her boss fix my hair for me. Then later, when she was discussing what to do with my hair with Yokokawa-san, he asked "will you fix it later?" and she was like "well I'll fix the color" and he said "and the cut?" and she was like "eheeee :3" and he was like *facepalm* lol. But then he kinda laughed and said ok, ok fine. He also helped trim my bangs, and shaved off all the hair near the nape of my neck, as part of the "pre-cutting" process. He seemed very dependable and kakoii though, so I liked him too. Actually today, we were going to grab coffee before going to the appointment, and I was going to pick up an extra cup for Meg and one for Yokokawa-san. Even though it was his day off, he said he'd come in for a bit to help, and even though I know it's not my responsibility, it was really nice of him so I wanted to get him some coffee. In the end though, we didn't have time to pick any up before 8pm. Edwin offered to run out at some point to pick some up cuz even with his DS he was bound to get bored during an evening full of hair dye. :p But Meg told us that Yokokawa-san wasn't coming today so in the end we didn't get coffee with him! Agh what a mess. Err this is boring though isn't it, I'm just blurting out people's names and talking about coffee.... ><


Anyway after the coloring, there was pretty much no time for any additional cutting. Also the pink in my hair was supposed to be red, but it would take a couple of doses to get it to a really brilliant red. Meg decided she'd do another dose early the next morning, and maybe some cutting if she had time.


We rushed out of the building, last minute, at 1am. Everyone else had left the salon already, and apparently they close off all exits at 1am, and we managed to sneak out just as the security guard was closing the last gate. :o


I had offered Meg to stay at my place if she needed, a few days ago. Cuz I knew the night before the contest would be a late night, and the station that she lives at is not Takadanobaba, so she said she'd stay at a senpai's (Yokokawa-san's) house. But I was like oh, if you want, I have two beds! I guess I just figured it would be easier, and I wanted to be nice cuz I somehow sort of like Meg. I didn't think she would take me up on that offer...but....Meg is maybe not your typical Japanese girl? :) So all during the night she kept saying "It's ok if I stay with you?? You sure?" and I was like "Yes Meg it's fine. :)" 


So...at the end of the night, walked home with a Meg in tow. We were both pretty tired, and we had to get up early the next morning at around 5:30am to get to the salon for last minute coloring and still make it in time to leave for the contest at 9am! Gah. Meg. How can I model if I don't get any sleep?? No haircut will look flattering on a face like this: =_= oh dear....


That, and, Meg needed to shower, but didn't bring a towel. She didn't have pajamas. I'm PRETTY sure she knew she'd have to stay at someone's place, but she still didn't bring any of her stuff. ^^;;; Hahaha. We also stopped for coffee and cigarettes on the way home.


I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but after a whole week of ridiculous hair procedures, tomorrow is finally the day. We'll see how it goes!!