Harajuku Lovers

If you are looking for something different in kid's wear, you should go to Harajuku Lovers, one of line space of clothing by Gwen Stefani for the men, the women and the children who have “an attraction mortal with the kindness”.

The collection is strongly influenced by the music of Stefani and the modern Japanese culture, in particular the zone of Harajuku of Tokyo which is preferred trail for the artists, the fashionistas and the hippies Japanese. Shopping at Harajuku-lovers.com is not certainly your standard experiment of purchases.

You and your trusty mouse "prowl the streets of Harajuku" with the princess of cool, Gwen Stefani with the research of the clothing and the accessories of hip. To catch the subway of Tokyo, to review the stores, to listen to brilliant music, to trail with Gwen and her Japanese friends and to take some completely fresh clothing.

Best Information about Harajuku.

KiddyLand

KiddyLand, used to be called Tokyo's Capitol of Cute in Harajuku. It is one of Tokyo's most fun, famous and popular toy stores sightseeing spots in Tokyo. Located along the Omotesando - the georgous harajuku boulevard - KiddyLand consists of six floors filled with all kinds of huge selection toys from electronic games, character goods to stuffed animals.

Many major toy brands and popular characters, including Disney, Barbie and Hello Kitty, Peanuts Gang, American Superhero are available here. In 2nd floor, you can find any Peanuts Item in Japan. Sometime, The shop use Peanuts for Season Campaign Character. For example was the Xmas campaign of 1996. Overall, KiddyLand is nirvana of toys, the must visited spot for the young and the young at heart.

KiddyLand is located at 6-1-9 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. If you want to go there, you can take JR "YAMANOTE-LINE", and take off "Harajuku". And exit "Omotesando-Guchi"(Entrance of Omotesando). Crossing road and you can see Drugstore in the corner. Walking straight few minutes, and crossing Meiji Ave, and burger shop in corner. 1 - 3 minutes on foot, you can look up KiddyLand Building.

You do not need an excuse if you want to go in and buy yourself something plastic, silly and completely useless. In fact, it seems half the Japanese teenage population thoroughly recommends it. The merchandise is global, making it a great place to buy not only Doraemon and Sanrio products, but also anything from the Moomins to Spiderman. The items here priced from a dollar to several hundreds of dollars.

There are rumors that some celebrities from foreign countries also visit there often. RelaKuma is the most popular character in KiddyLand. The store is usually so crowded with teenagers that it's impossible to get in the front door. If you are a person who doesn't like crowds, I wont recommend you to go there. It also has a large selection of gag gifts, including temporary tattoos and who knows what else. KiddyLand is open daily 10am to 8pm; closed the third Tuesday of some months.

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Daiso Harajuku

Alongside the glamour boutiques and dining in Harajuku is the "Daiso Harajuku" otherwise known as the 100 yen Shop. Take a look of it from Takeshita dori, Harajuku’s busy pedestrian mall, Daiso looks like a big pharmacy, full of cosmetics and toiletries.

But if you take a look around inside you’ll see that there are 3 more floors: a basement full of kitchenware, and a huge range of stationary, homewares and electrical accessories upstairs. Browsing through, it seems like a regular variety store, until you notice that everything is priced at just 105 yen.

Daiso is a 100 Yen store right in the heart of Takeshita dori in Harajuku, located only a few steps from Harajuku Station along Takeshita Dori. It is only one minute walk from JR Harajuku Station (Takeshita-guchi Exit). While Japan's largest 100 Yen shop, Daiso Giga Machida, spans 5 floors in front of Machida Station (30 minutes, 360 Yen from Shinjuku by Odakyu Railways). Daiso Harajuku is one of the largest 100 Yen stores in central Tokyo offering a wide array of goods on multiple floors at 105 Yen per item (105 yen incl. tax) - sometimes 99 yen.

The products amount here is around 90,000. It sells almost all original products developed by Daiso. Daiso provide the following living wares. - Stationeries - Foods and beverages - CD and Books - Interior goods - Cosmetics - Gardening utensil - Kitchen utensil - Plastic goods You can find a lot interesting goods for your daily necessities or souvenirs. Daiso Harajuku probably the biggest store of Daiso. Large stores in other cities include: Daiso Sapporo Chuo (South 2 West 2, Odori Station), Daiso Nagoya Sakae Skyle (Sakae Station), Daiso Osaka Nihonbashi (Nihonbashi Station), Daiso Kobe Promena (Promena Kobe, Kobe Station) and Daiso Fukuoka Kotsu Center (Fukuoka Kotsu Center, Hakata Station).

100 yen stores are enhancing their status in the retail industry to rank alongside department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores. Dozens or perhaps hundreds or even thousands of these often small (a few are multi-storey complexes with the look and stock of department stores) dot the landscape. Daiso, one of the bigger operators, runs more than two thousand stores across Japan. Japan's biggest 100 Yen, or “dollar” shop, Daiso Giga Machida, covers 5 floors of Machida Station. According to published sources, by “purchasing products in huge quantities and at big discounts from countries with low production and labor costs,” these commonly available, usually small shops bring a broad range of products to consumers. The 100 (or 99) yen shops are great for shopping for basics while you travel, or for rooting out all kinds of interesting knick-knacks to tote home as gifts.

Daiso is a major player in the 100 Yen chain store located all over Japan commonly known as "hyakkin". Daiso store is ranging in size from multi-storey "department stores" to small corners in shopping malls. Some are as large as 5 floors high. Imagine four floors of items from food to stationary, pet stuff, kitchen and bath goods, and even some clothes that are ALL 100 yen each. And it’s decent stuff. Daiso has expanded its product lines and number of stores on such a scale that it can no longer be categorized solely as a 100 yen stores. It is now so well established as part of everyday life that it has become the destination of choice for the purchase of daily commodities.

Daiso apparently can sell items cheap because they get things in bulk. They also have companies in China make a lot of the make up and other items that they then sell as Daiso products. Almost everything is for sale for the basic fee plus a small consumption tax, which means these are the dollar stores of Asia. Harajuku branch is a great introduction to the 100 yen shopping experience, it is not the biggest in Tokyo, but it is the most conveniently located of the big 100 yen stores, as it is in an area that visitors would most likely want to visit anyway. There was a news that Daiso recently went international with a store in Vancouver. In the year ended March 2005, Daiso sales exceeded 320 billion yen and our network of shops across Japan numbered over 2,400. The number of stores is growing at a rate of 20 to 30 stores a month and our overseas network is also increasing at a rapid pace. Daiso pursues an aggressive expansion policy.


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Togo Shrine

Togo Shrine (???? Togo-jinja), located on Meiji Dori in Harajuku, near the intersection of Takeshita Street and Meiji Avenue. It is accessible from Harajuku Station, near Meiji-Jingumae, Tokyo. It was built in 1940. Togo shrine is an oasis of peace and harmony, right next to the crowded Takeshita-dori street.

Togo Shrine is a memorial Shinto shrine dedicated to military commander Admiral Togo Heihachiro (1848-1934) shortly after his death. Togo Heihachiro campaigned commander in the defining 1905 victory against Russia at the Tsushima Straits. The Admiral defeated the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Togo supervised former Emperor Hirohito's education from 1914-1924. The shrine was established in 1940 but destroyed in the air bombings of 1945. Then the shrine was replaced by a contemporary building in 1969 and a memorial hall was added in the shrine. Togo Heihachiro is celebrated as a shinto kami in Togo Shrine. There is a small museum and a bookshop dedicated to Togo Heihachiro located within the grounds of the shrine. Togo Heihachiro physical remains are interred at Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.

There is a flea market in Togo Shrine, which has a nice and peaceful atmosphere. This is a lovely place to walk around. While wandering amongst the stalls you can enjoy the Shrine garden. This flea market is a Sunday morning open-air antique market with more than 120 booths, if it is raining so all the booths are suspended. This is the largest antique market of its kind in Tokyo. The flea market opens on the 1st, 4th, and 5th Sunday of every month from 4am to 2pm. After 2pm the sellers start to clean up their shop, so you must come earlier. This is the best place to buy used kimono, furniture, record player, a wooden trunk, or even some film posters from the show era. Almost all customers here are non-Japanese people. The sellers here seem like used to have foreigners customers so they use a little bit English to tell the prices. Don’t forget to bargain when you shop here.

Togo Shrine is 5 minutes from Harajuku Station. From the platform, go down the stairs and out Takeshita Exit. Cross the road and enter Takeshita-dori (full of shops on both sides). Walk straight and head left at a small four-street intersection (before Seven Eleven). There will be a fork in the road with steps to the right. Go up the steps, walk straight and you should see more steps that will lead you to the entrance to the shrine. And it takes 7 minutes to Togo Shrine if you are from Meiji-jingumae station. From Exit 3, head toward Harajuku Station, past Snoopy Town Shop, to Takeshita-dori. Enter Takeshita-dori and walk straight. Head left at a small four-street intersection (before Seven Eleven) and there will be a fork in the road with stairs to the right. Go up the steps, walk straight and you should see more steps that will take you to the entrance to the shrine.

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Louis Vuitton

The Louis Vuitton store in Omotesando, Harajuku was opened in autumn 2002. This is The Louis Vuitton company's largest store in the world, also their luxury goods maker’s and one of the most beautiful store. The public store occupied five of the building's ten floors, which are designed as a stack of trunks rather than conventional floors.

The success of Louis Vuitton, of course, is based on bags, and so along with shoes. The store located at 5-7-5 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku. Tel: 03-3478-2100. Open daily 11am-8pm. The nearest station of the store is Omotesando Station.

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