Harajuku
Historical Fashion Temple of Tokyo’s Youth
Harajuku is a neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward spreading around Harajuku JR station on the Yamanote Line. Its main pedestrian shopping street, Takeshita-dori, used to be famous for its display of the young Tokyoites’ alternative fashion trends. Now, it tends to be home to shops targeting tourists.
A former relay station on the road to Kamakura during the Edo period (1603 – 1868), Harajuku gradually urbanizes around its JR station from the early 20th century. Starting the 1970s, it becomes the hot spot for the Japanese youth’s eccentric fashion. The place gives birth to several alternative and edgy trends, such as, for women, the lolita, kogyaru and mori girls. They used to walk around in cosplay in Takeshita-dori street on the weekend, as well as at the entrance of the large Yoyogi Park, also home to the majestic Meiji Jingu shrine, where many traditional weddings take place.
Since the 2010s and even more since the Covid 🦠 crisis, the neighborhood has become a tourist’s must-see and is undergoing a gentrification. The young Tokyoites tend to prefer Shin-Okubo to Harajuku, and the independent fashion shops are increasingly replaced by souvenir shops, cafes and eateries selling kawaii sweets tailored for social networks.
Omotesando, the large Harajuku avenue considered as the Japanese 5th Avenue is in the vicinity of Takeshita street.
🚃 New modern station since 2020
Harajuku’s JR station, Tokyo’s oldest (built in 1924), was reconstructed between 2017 and 2019. Of a global cost of ¥250 billion (~1.6 billions dollars), also including Sendagaya and Shinanomachi stations, the project was to create a larger facility so as to improve the travelers’ flow and avoid congestion.
Opened on March 21, 2020, the new station displays its modern cubic design a few dozen meters away from its former location. It as indeed announced in November 2019 that the original 96 years old station would be dismantled, due to its wooden structure not in line with fire 🔥 safety standards.
While the tearing down started on August 24, 2020, it was announced on the same month that parts of the former station will be used to build a smaller memorial construction. The restoration project, unveiled in April 2024, also includes a new 1,170 m² shopping mall. Construction works to partly reconstitute the outer look of the former Harajuku station with original materials are to take place until December 2026, an its inauguration is scheduled for winter 2026-27.