Harajuku is my favorite place in Tokyo because of the super diverse crowd you can find here. All sorts of crazy fashion and lots of fun shops for cheaper prices than the usual. Harajuku receives some fame from Gwen Stefani's song where she references "harajuku girls". The main street of shopping for clothes, socks, and Gothic Lolita outfits (a mix between gothic and anime style clothing that is famous in this area) is called Takesita-dori. KittyLand is always fun to visit because it has about 8 floors of cartoon/anime merchandise, from keychains to stuffed animals to books to plates. Around this area you can also find the only Johnny's store in the area, which usually has about a 2 hour wait to get inside on the weekends just to buy small pictures and little things of your favorite boyband member. Harajuku is so much fun though, ohhh, I just love this place!

A brief blurb about what "Johnny's" is: The Japanese boyband industry is run by this one guy named Johnny Kitagawa and subsequently the boybands are referred to as "Johnny". It's a hugeee industry here.. this guy is a genius for bubble-gum wrapping the hottest boys together and selling them for all their worth. Auditions to be a Johnny's Jr. (which is where you start) are supposedly pretty tough and just because you are a Jr. doesn't mean you will graduate and debut as an official Johnny's. Mr. Johnny has all the fans on serious lock though in so many ways. One example is that you must be a fan-club member in order to even have a chance at getting concert tickets. He even pays off tabloids to avoid having any bad stories put out about his boys. You can subscribe to the Johnny's Entertainment website (small fee) to read blogs written by some of the more popular boys. It really is ridiculous how much he must be banking on these kids.. I definitely have been sucked into this boyband culture.. MatsuJun <3

Shibuya is another favorite place of mine because it is sooo busy! Kaki won me one of my favorite stuffed bears from one of those claw arcade games. The bear is called Rilakkuma which means "relax bear". It's a super cute bear until you turn it over to its back where you see there is a zipper, indicating that the bear is really a man inside a costume. It's really intriguing in a creepy sort of way and I like it alot! Shibuya has a famous store called "Shibuya 109" or also "Ichi Maru Kyu" (the Japanese words for 109) which has about 8 floors of clothing stores. It is super popular because of the trendy wear you can find here, but it is also very expensive! With the massive stopping of traffic for hundreds of people to cross in all different directions (forward & diagonally), you wonder how this district functions with cars. There are so many giant TV screens and vibrant signs that it is just beautiful to roam around here at night. Ohhh.. Tokyo is so beautiful.