Tokyo Guide: Harajuku

Tokyo Area Guide: Harajuku 原宿

Takeshita-dori Street, Harajuku, Tokyo

Green and pleasant Harajuku is Tokyo's most established center of street fashion. While other areas rival it in terms of hip, Harajuku still reigns when it comes to streetwise and cutting edge. Harajuku is flanked by Jingu Gaien/Yoyogi Park to the east and the elegant Aoyama district to the west.

The tree-lined Omotesando boulevard (originally, Japan's first ever boulevard) starts from the gates of the Meiji Jingu shrine. It extends west from just south of JR Harajuku station (or directly east from Jingu-mae subway station on the Chiyoda line), bisecting Meiji-dori avenue and then Aoyama-dori avenue.

Harajuku comes in two distinct flavors: trash and class.

Trashy Harajuku can be sampled by a walk down Takeshita-dori avenue (across from the north exit of JR Harajuku station on the Yamanote line). This street has it all in terms of variety, garishness, crowdedness, noise, and hustle.

Classier Harajuku can be experienced by, having traversed Takeshita-dori from Harajuku station, veering diagonally left down "Harajuku Street" (look out for signpost).

Quickly merging into Kumano-dori avenue, this is a kilometer (half mile) of alternative, and, by definition, quite expensive, street cred fashion, running all the way to Gaienmae Station (Hanzomon subway line) on Route 246.

For a more mainstream experience of classy shopping, fashion and dining, check out nearby Omotesando boulevard in adjacent Aoyama, just minutes walk away.

Harajuku Access

Harajuku is accessible from Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote Line.

Harajuku Station, JR Yamanote Line, Tokyo

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