Shimokitazawa

To make up for the lag of posts these past few days,
am resuming my brief photo-mentary of Tokyo with this place called Shimokitazawa. Having read heaps about it before I visited Japan,
I thought I was well prepared to face the maze of little streets its so famous for. Haha, so much for that!

Shimokitazawa is more like a very elaborate labyrinth of lane-roads which criss cross all over the place. Its quite an overwhelming sight once you step out of the train station. Quirky little shops line every bit of available space on both sides of the street. Its a place where locals chill, shop & strut. (Young ones that is! Mostly everyone looks like they're below mid 20's.)

Jewellery, music, clothing, bags, hair dressers, bars, cafes, live music, food, people, people, people, toys, anime, manga, houseware, handmade work, second hand items, bicycles, art... ZOMG.... (it seems like everything imaginable in the world can be found :P ok,ok, I am exaggerating) is crammed into that little hotbed of activity! I love it ever so much! Heaps! So many, many things to gawk at, to touch, to feel, to hear, to consume!








Weird kitschy display of bike, stunned mannequin beside a poster of a kimono-clad lady grasping her big man-gun.
All this to decorate the front of a hair salon!

















Orange, lemon, lime bikes.















Cute rice cracker store!
Everytime I look at these in their neat piles, I feel like running my hands through them :P
















Perty rice cracker store display.

















Seeing red in the dark (alley).

















I love how their logos are so graphical.












Rice slips, noodles slosh!
Funniest gyodan display.
(gyodan= japanese food replicas)







Salt licked yakitori &
ice cold Sapporos, we had, in this cozy little nook. Its always crowded with patrons so we waited quite a bit to get seated.












They have an extensive display of local wines.











Japanese storytelling, near the Shimokitazawa station. He's a real charmer, very good at what he does.
Not being able to understand Japanese, just listening to his intonations & watching his varied crazy gestures was great fun!












I am pretty sure most everyone would know what this is. (PM me if you don't) I had no idea they were still readily available or still in use! :P














Street shot of the endless, seamless shops.
















Waiting to cross to the other side of the track.














Comings & goings.
Of trains, pictured through a tunnel.












:) Chinese New Year (CNY)'s next week!!
Posts shall be a little sporadic till after the busy period of pre-CNY has phased past.
Till then, take care everyone!