A thought about all those bright colors: the party district in Tokyo is organized per se, but as a massive melange of fluorescence visible from Mars. It makes Las Vegas look like a string of holiday lights around your dorm room window. Information grabs you by the retina and trips you over the sidewalk as you try to keep up.

Harajuku** itself is Tokyo’s youth culture capital, focused on the Takeshita Dori (east from the station), a narrow street lined with quirky shops and often even quirkier fashions.

For every new subway ad featuring an online pharmacy and a nice monstera plant, there was a new pop-up skate shop soaking up the runoff of Supreme teens. HSWLD on Delancey, a dozen others lost to memory… Online, I browsed IJJI and v.soon and Anti-Social Social Club on my friend’s Tiny Clothing Stores Are.na channel, this selection a mere trickle of