So this post came three days later than it should have because on the day when I was supposed to post the pictures from this day's escapade, a certain younger sister was so excited about it that she kept me up all night asking about it, and then yesterday, I got distracted by some Sprout fanvideos after fangirling over JUMP's Chinen Yuri.
I'M SO LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCHING THIS DRAMA!!
I need some Chii romance in my life! ♡
Anyways, Monday was Harajuku Day, and if you don't know anything about Harajuku, it is basically the pop culture, youth center of Tokyo. In other words...the land of Johnny's + other crazy stuff, like cosplay! ^^
I went into at least three of these questionable shops selling Johnny's stuff hoping to find at least something with the Bakaleya kids, and ended up being very unlucky...until I saw this:
Even Harajuku's JR Station had it's own distinct character.
So far, the others have all looked super modern...
As soon as I walk down Harajuku's main street, I see this:
Look! Three Johnny's references already! I LOVE THIS TOWN! :D
And despite me wanting to buy pretty much everything in sight - I love the style and all the cute merchandise you can buy here - I had to refrain from doing so in favor of saving the yen in my wallet. XD
However, there was one store that I had in mind that I wasn't about to skimp on. Could you guess?
It's the official JOHNNY'S SHOP.
Of course that would be my first real stop! Because down a sketchy alley near Harajuku's famous pedestrian overpass is the official Johnny's Shop located in Harajuku.
Down this sketchy alleyway to be exact. XD
Johnny's is a very paranoid place, so they don't allow ANY photography - not in the shop or anywhere around it, so I don't have any actual pictures of the place to show. However, I will say that it is a lot less flamboyant than I expected. You are given a form and a pen at the basement level door. Then, there are walls and walls of official photos of the Johnny's, and you find the number of the photo on the form and write how many copies of that photo you wish to buy. Each photo is only 150 yen, so it's actually not that expensive - and it's a big deal because Johnny's is so paranoid about photos of their talents out of their hands that it's probably the ONLY place to get good quality, up-to-date photos of your favorite Johnny's talents. :3 You can also get other things like umbrellas or uchiwas with the Johnny's faces or logos on them, but they cost A LOT, and in my opinion, are a bit cheesy. I don't really need an umbrella with Kisumai's logo on it - I have a perfectly fine working one already, thanks. XD
My Johnny's haul, which I'm now a very proud owner of! ^^
They even had a booth where you could "take a picture with a Johnny's". (Aka. take a picture with an image of a Johnny's of your choice photoshopped onto the green screen next to you. XD)
I chose Taipi because I realized that I hadn't gotten anything with Kisumai yet. XD
The little key chains at the bottom of the Johnny's haul picture are, however, not from the official Johnny's Shop. I need to tell you the story behind them! *determinedface*
You see, my sister is a huge fan of a certain Johnny's Jr. named Tanaka Juri.
Basically, all you need to know about him is that he's pretty good-looking,
plays an adorable dumbass in Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou,
and is KAT-TUN's Tanaka Koki's younger bro...who looks nothing like him. XD
So, she basically sent me on a wild goose chase to find SOMETHING with him on it. When I visited the official Johnny's Shop, there was NOTHING (absolutely nothing!) for the Johnny's Jr., except for pictures of Nakayama Yuma (whom we hate dislike strongly) and a bunch of Kansai Jr. (whom we just didn't know). Which surprised me, since the Tokyo Jr., especially the Jr. in Bakaleya, seemed to be so popular. However, when we visited Harajuku's infamous Takeshita-dori,
Crowded shopping street for young people - pop culture capital of Tokyo - check! :P
we would randomly keep finding illegal unofficial shops selling Johnny's-related merchandise.
Like this.
And this.
And even Johnny's machines!
I went into at least three of these questionable shops selling Johnny's stuff hoping to find at least something with the Bakaleya kids, and ended up being very unlucky...until I saw this:
Hallelujah! A shop advertising with a picture of the Bakaleya6! ^-^
I went into this store, sure that there would be something with Juri's face on it. However, like the other shops selling Johnny's stuff, this store was packed, floor to ceiling, wall to wall with Johnny's, AKB48, and K-pop stuff, which made finding one particular Johnny's extremely difficult.
Finally, I was approached by a group of middle school-aged Japanese girls - whom I now believe were kind of like scalpers - squatted in front of a row of machines that dispensed Johnny's key chains at random once you inserted 200 yen. They probably were drawn in by my look of confusion/frustration, and so they asked me which Johnny's I liked. I managed to convey to them in broken Japanese that I had a little sister who liked Tanaka Juri. After consulting these rings - RINGS I tell you - of Johnny's key chains to see if they had any with Juri, they told me that they didn't have his and that I should try the machines. I tried one and got one of Matsumura Hokuto:
Cool...But not who I was looking for. XD
Seeing my look of dismay, they advised me to try again, but I had had enough with chance. I pointed at Juri's face on the machine and asked them directly, "Juri...doko?" or in English, "Juri...where???". Getting the picture, the girls looked around the store and eventually found a small, cleverly hidden corner with B6 stuff. (I say hidden because it was under a bunch of I believe were Tackey & Tsubasa stuff. XD) So, I ended up getting a key chain with Juri and one with Kyomoto Taiga's (my favorite Jr.) face on them.
Yay for illegal things! XD
Anyways, for a brief moment, I was shining with pride for my apparent Japanese skillz. I can convey a love for Johnny's...in a foreign language! How cool is that? XD
However, if I just showed you the Johnny's stuff in Harajuku, that would be an EXTREMELY misleading view of Harajuku - even I'm willing to admit that. Johnny's was prominent, but it wasn't the ONLY thing to see. In fact, it wasn't even the only big time franchise there.
For one, there was THIS right at the mouth of Takeshita-dori:
Oh Johnny's, why couldn't you be less sketch enough to afford a huge store on the major street?
An official AKB48 shop. Why wasn't I surprised? XD But, I will say that despite the official AKB shop being on Takeshita-dori, Harajuku is firmly Johnny's land. However, AKB comes in full force at the next destination of our week in Tokyo, but more on that later!
Anyways, here are some other equally awesome things that we saw:
I just love the fashion/style here! I would wear this stuff! ^^
Fun, costume-like clothing. :)
Cute themed restaurants. :3
<3
<3 <3 <3
Fun cosplay clothing. :)
Basically, every kind of merchandise imaginable! XD
There was even a K-pop store amongst all the Johnny's madness. XD
Basically, if I could stay here forever with an endless money supply, I would have died and gone to heaven. Now this is my kind of place!! :D
However, even after all the awesomeness of Harajuku, it still felt wonderful when we decided to wind down at the Meiji Shrine just nearby.
It was a little hard to believe that all the grounds of this peaceful, meditative Shinto shrine was literally right across the street from the bustling Harajuku. However, it was a wonderful way to end the day and we were extremely happy that we managed to visit it before it closed at sunset. :)
Anyways, I think this is all I will say on that awesome day! I will try to catch everyone up as soon as I can! :D
Bye-bye for now!
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