Cell Phones and Shopping in Harajuku

Wednesday, September 15th

Me and my two friends Kelly and Jasmine tried once again to go to Yokohama and get a Japanese cell phone from Softbank. At least this time we knew where to find the store that had at least one English speaking employee, but little did we know that the whole process from beginning to end would take so many hours. The lady at Softbank was very kind and helpful, walked us through all the information, and answered all our questions. I learned that she was born in Peru and had mixed Japanese and Latin ancestry, but had also lived for many years in Japan – thus she was practically fluent in Spanish, English, and Japanese.

Like I said before, the whole process took a few hours as we were shown the information for all the different contracts, decided which was best for our situation (and most affordable), and then filled out all the paperwork. It was worth it though, because I ended up with a really cool cellular phone that is prettier and has many more functions than the one I had back in the US. I can call, txt, email, surf the web, take high resolution pictures, use infrared to instantly exchange data between other peoples’ phones and my own, look up stuff in its dictionary, scan barcodes,  and probably do a bunch of other stuff that I haven’t even discovered yet. I can't use this cellphone in America, but I do get to take it back with me. So I am truly wondering if I could find a person to hack this phone and an American sim-card so I could use it in the US. We'll see...

My new cellphone!

Once we finished getting our new phones we had some donburi (something yummy over rice) for lunch. I picked Oyakosdon, which literally translates to "parent and child over rice". The reason for the weird name? It's grilled chicken, cooked with chicken eggs and vegetables over rice - actually quite clever and delicious!

Parent and child cooked together for a delicious meal

Then we each christened our cell phones with some brand new charms and decorations. I bought a purple koi fish decal that perfectly matches my lavender phone, and also a plush koala charm since they are my favorite animal. Also in Japanese the word for koala (コアラ "koara") and the Japanese version of my name (クララ "Kurara") sound very similar, so koala has become a nickname for me amongst some of my Japanese friends.

My purple phone with its purple fish

Koala!

After that long day I ended spending the rest of the evening at home skyping, reading, and bathing. Its become a sort of ritual of mine to take as much time to relax as possible to help offset all the running around and adventuring that I do on a daily basis.

Thursday, September 16th

It was a rainy, gray sort of a day but I didn’t let that stop me from heading out to Harajuku to meet with my friend Yuka. She lives in Osaka, but was visiting Tokyo for a few days, so I made sure to see here before she returned home. Also Harajuku is one of the most famous (for good reason) neighborhoods in Tokyo, and while I had been there once before, I was anxious to see it again. It has a reputation for being a place of extreme fashion, from cosplay (people dressing up in costumes from anime and such), punk rockers, gothic styles, Lolitas (girls dressing up in elaborate Victorian or Rococo era inspired outfits), Mori girls (one of my new favorites), and much more. So we spent a lot of time shopping and strolling up and down Takeshita Douri (the main street in Harajuku).

Entrance to Takeshita Street

And I even found my new favorite clothing store named “Wonder Rocket”. I was initially drawn to it because of the mannequins in its window wearing subtle, lacey, elegant, antique looking outfits, as well as the fact that the mannequins had rabbit heads. I was instantly reminded of Alice in Wonderland, and I am fairly sure that was their intent. I later came to learn that stores like Wonder Rocket specialize in "Mori Girl" fashion, which I have to admit I really enjoy. You can read more about what Mori Girl fashion is here. 

Me and a bunny mannequin

When I went inside I found so many pieces of clothing, accessories, or jewelry that I wanted to buy. However, being the thrifty shopper I am, I decided to leave and give it some thought before splurging on a bunch of new, fancy clothes.

So after shopping Yuka and I had lunch at a very trendy café. They had special lunch sets that came with a drink of your choice, so I got to sit in a café , drink red wine, and feel sophisticated. 

Keema Curry in a Cafe in Harajuku

Me trying to be sophisticated ^-^

But after lunch we roamed around once more, and before we had to part ways and head home I made up my mind to return to Wonder Rocket. I ended up buying a beautiful, purple dress, and I know I will go back there again soon. The three reasons I ultimately decided to buy the dress were: 1) it was actually very affordable (only 3,000yen, roughly $30), 2) it was a "F" size dress (free size, or “one-size-fits-all) so it fit my shoulders/bust/etc unlike many other Japanese dresses I have tried, and 3) Wonder Rocket is the type of store that has a constantly rotating selection, so if I didn’t buy the dress that day I might never find the same one in the same color again. I am happy with my decision and my new Alice in Wonderland dress J

My Alice in Wonderland dress from Wonder Rocket