This look intrigues me and it’s a great example of the extremes Japan has to offer. The look is called Ganguro (ガングロ) and it’s an alternative fashion trend made popular by Japanese girls since about 2000.
Currently,as far as i’ve seen, Shibuya and Ikebukuro are the best spots to see chicks wearing this get up. I tried to get a photo with a few of these girls about 18 months ago but was promptly told to “get the fark out” to put it politely.
Ganguro starts at school for some which certainly adds some colour to sports day.
Stop 10 on the 29 stations of the JR Yamanote Line series was Mejiro. I’d only heard of Mejiro once and that was a few weeks back, let alone bad i been there.
Sunday i headed out about 6 stops from home and had a walk around Mejiro. First impressions were it’s a pretty quite place with not a whole lot to do, those impressions carried on throughout my walk and stayed with me as i headed home a few hours later.
Not all the stops can be as exciting as Shibuya, Akihabara and Harajuku and Mejiro certainly doesn’t come close, it was however a nice residential area with quite a few foreigners calling it home.
There was quite a bit of action outside the station for a Sunday.
Too early for lunch and Sushi wasn’t on the menu anyway, although there were a few shops selling it.
I took a run out to Ginza on the weekend, with the specific purpose of picking up some new kit from the new H&M store in Ginza.
Ginza was one of the first places i visited back in 2002 and i’ve really only been back that way a couple of times. With the exception of new stores Ginza hasn’t changed much, it’s still an interesting place to spend a few hours wandering the main drag checking out the sights.
On my way to the H&M store i did just that, i got a little funky putting the camera on an angle to instead of my usual up and down style, i need to remember to do this more often.
All the big names are out at Ginza, if that’s what you’re looking for then Ginza is a must see when you’re in Tokyo.
