Indonesian Fashion Spot!

I stopped by tokyo for 3 days on the way home to Jakarta kemaren. Nggak sempet jalan ke banyak tempat sih, tapi lumayan lah to get a feel of the city and enough to witness how fanatical Japanese are about fashion. I don’t think I have seen that many stylish girls before. New york is indeed one of the fashion capitals but you’ll still see lots of people wearing their worn out gap hoodies and sweatpants strolling down 5th avenue. You won’t see that in Tokyo. Kayanya memang nggak ada yang gembel deh disana….all I saw was girls with their well-tailored coats, dressy boots, perfect fitting jeans toting their designer handbags. Everything is so well put together..and everything looks expensive..and not only they have good sense of fashion, they have nice skin complexion that is framed with gorgeous haircut and highlight. Oh and they have skinny figures too. I envy them. I wonder where they work, maybe the salary standard in Japan is pretty high so they can afford those luxury stuff? but then again..everything is so expensive there!! I didn’t even buy anything other than JJ and Vivi magazines..hehe. The price there is ridiculous, it’s twice as expensive as the price in here.

Anyway, my hotel was in Shinjuku, a business and shopping district in the west side of Tokyo. Yang namanya toko toko dan restaurant, lounge, karaoke memang di mana mana karena area nya luas banget, banyak gang gang kecilnya yang sambung menyambung, kalo malem juga rame dan meriah banget deh dengan neon lights nya. Di situ juga ada area yang namanya Kabukicho, the well known red light district. Untuk shopping ada Takashimaya Times Square, Lumine, Isetan, Odakyo department store dan masih ada beberapa lagi. Shinjuku train station is actually the busiest station in the world. My most memorable experience was actually taking the JR Yamanote line to Shimbashi at 8 o’clock on Monday morning. Ternyata bener yang di ceritain discovery channel. Penuhnya nggak kira kira, expect untuk kegencet dari segala arah dan expect untuk nemu lebam lebam biru di kaki/tangan setelahnya, the staff has to literally push the people inside so he can close the door.

Ginza is the most exclusive and expensive shopping area in Japan. You can find literally any kind of high end brands in here, housed in modern and distinct buildings built by famous architects. Some of the unique buildings that I remember are Hermes store (by Renzo Piano), Sony tower, Chanel building (by Peter Marino), Louis Vuitton, Apple and Dior store. Department store nya banyak dari Wako dengan gedung yang ada jamnya yang jadi landmarknya Ginza, Matsuya, Mitsukoshi, Matsuzakaya dll (susah2 sih namanya..).

Shibuya kurang lebih sama lah, shopping and entertainment district juga, department store nya di sini ada Seibu. Yang popular di sini itu Shibuya 109, a building full of small (but less expensive) boutiques khusus untuk baju cewe dengan model yang beraneka ragam. Katanya sih banyak fashion trend di Jepang yang bermula dari Shibuya 109.

Harajuku. There are 3 popular areas in Harajuku; Omotesando, Aoyama Dori andTakeshita Dori. I love walking down Omotesando, jalanan besar kaya avenue gitu, tapi atmosphere nya enak banget di situ, banyak pohon pohon rindang di pinggir jalan and street cafes, banyak toko tokonya juga (finally!! something other than department store, I don’t really like looking around department store). Sayangnya di sini lupa mau liat gedungnya Prada, yang di design Herzog and De Meuron, di kira adanya di sepanjang jalan Omotesando, ternyata harus jalan dulu sampe mentok dan ketemu Aoyama Dori. Dari Omotesando ke Takeshita Dori, the focal point of Harajuku, jalanannya khusus pedestrian aja dan isinya kebanyakan butik butik lokal, banyak crepes stands juga. Dulunya di sini banyak barang barang palsu, tapi sekarang cuma ada beberapa orang aja yang nawar nawarin jeans palsu secretly, kalo mau nantinya di ajak ke belakang toko. Di sini banyak yang berdandan aneh aneh, ya namanya juga Harajuku, kebanyakan sih pada berdandan ala gothic Lolita look, tapi banyak juga yang pake kostum seperti karakter film, trus ada yang pake baju pengantin..pokonya serasa lagi halloween lah kalo di sana, nggak kebayang gimana suasananya kalo hari minggu, karena katanya bener bener lebih heboh dari biasanya. Harajuku is my favorite place in Tokyo, I wish I could spend more time in there.

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