Major coincidences, cool bands and chicken kebab

28/9, Sunday

Because E wasn't going to stay very long today, we made up a quick day schedule: Yoyogi Park (代々木公園) and Akihbara! But in the end, we were only able to go Yoyogi, so now E has an excuse (or, as she puts it, hundres of reasons) to come back here. I mean, of course we need to check out the otaku Mecca in detail!

So we went to Harajuku again (sorry E, lots of Harajuku this time...) because it's easier to get to the park from there rather from the Yoyogi station. We had looked it up real quick on the net before and felt kiiiind of confident on how we were supposed to get there. We went through the Meiji Jingu park again and this time, I took pictures! I'll post them before we move on the events.
1. On our way to Yoyogi Kouen, or so we thought...
2. Nice looking wooden fence.
3. Barrels of sake! Some had very nice art on them, and we also found one that looked like E's Utan face, haha!
4. Main gate (?) to the shrine. We started feeling that we were on the wrong way... But anyway, the torii was huge, see the next photo!
5. Grand. (Photo: E)
6. We found a tree with a mystical hole. Is this where Totoro lives?
7. Entering the shrine.

Yeah, so we definitely weren't on the right path to the park, though something out of the ordinary happened on our way here! E and I were walking around, discussing our path, when, suddenly, three familiar silhouettes entered our field of vision. "Isn't that..." said E, and it was! The three of them, D, P and R, went to the same Japanese course we did in SU! Of all times, of all places in Tokyo, Japan, the world we met them here! That's what I call a coincidence! They came here to study as well, but aren't in the JLSP course. We'll most probably meet up (the lot of us from SU) some time in the near future, that'll be fun.

Anyway, so P gave us some directions to the park (they actually live in Yoyogi) and when E and I got there, we bumped into them again, haha.

Yoyogi Park is THE hot spot for teenagers and youths in Tokyo to express themselves in through art, music and fashion, and mainly on Sundays because everyone's free then. When going to Yoyogi, expect to see the famous Rockabilly gang (they're actually not young at all XD), punks, idol wannabes and brass bands jamming everywhere. Food stalls, lots of people, lots of energy, art performers, huge crows, it's all in Yoyogi! Now let's have some pictures!
1. Cool pink car that just screams "look at me!".
2. Some of the Rockabillies. I wonder if they lead an ordinary salaryman life during the weekdays?
3. Rockabilly girls doing synchronized dancing.
4. Idol-wannabes?
5. Some band with a mini gong-gong?
6. Another band. So far nothing that I really liked, but I these were one of the few who stood out more. All these bands and singers actually stand really, really close to eachother, so when you're watching one group, you always hear one or two more on the side.
7. Strange guy with his head stuck in a plastic ball-thing selling calligraphy. What, Tokyo?
8. This guy was actually pretty cool. He wears this mini stereo thing like a bag and jumps around to some funky music while he does portraits of people on the canvas board you see by the fountain. Here, he's trying to catch the little guy who had his portrait made, but he kept running away. Hehe. Cute.

E and I walked around some more and came across the India Festival being held in another part of Yoyogi! I think that was the first time I saw so many non-Japanese in one place, and it seems like Japan (at least Tokyo) has quite an established Indian community. So this was a very refreshing experience. We also got something to eat:

Chicken kebab! I would've liked some more filling to go with it, but ah, it's business, I suppose it has to be like this. Yum yum!

And soon came the time when E had to go home, so we headed for the station but got stuck watching this awesome band:

EBB, Empty Black Box, a super energetic brass band! They were bursting of charisma and power and were really fun to watch! (Photo kudos to E!) Easily the best band out of the bunch that day. I wouldn't mind going to their one-man gig if they did one.

After sending E off from the Harajuku station, I went home to take the rest of the day easy. I can now safely say that I can find my way home without problems, har har har! Oh, also, I took a picture of the scary cat at the Nakamura's who always sits there watching people walk by with narrowed, plotting eyes...
It avoided me when I pointed the camera at him/her (let's give it a name people!), I wonder if it was shy? When I passed it and turned around, I could see it looking at me again...