Sunday
This was our only time-sensitive agenda item for our trip, to hit Yoyogi Park on Sunday and see the cosplay kids.  We had discovered on Friday that the Harajuku station, where Yoyogi Park was closest, was right next to Cat Street, which we also had yet to explore.  We weren't sure if Sunday would be a quiet day for Tokyo, but an in-the-know (albeit drunken) member of our traveling party had assured us the night before that we could expect the shops to be open.  So the day was decided: start at Harajuku with Cat Street, meander through the day in circle, and end back at Harajuku with the cultured club.

Before we even made the one block walk from the station to the Cat Street entrance (aka Takeshita Street), we got sucked into an interesting t-shirt shop where I found an amazing subculture gem of a shirt and a sweet button.  Amber, too, walked away with an awesome hat.  Before we could do too much damage, we pulled ourselves away and headed to Cat Street.

Immediately, we were excited.  A big ballooned cat welcomes you into a narrow alley of tiny shops with weird swag and throngs of people.  We walked as slowly as the masses, taking in every interesting site along the way.  We ducked into a side alley and spotted a window front selling bubble tea and Churros, which are surprisingly popular in Tokyo (at least in volume of vendors; I don't know if I've actually seen any Japanese eating them).  We then got back in the fray and worked our way through with many, many pit stops along the way.

When we popped out of the other side of Cat Street, we found ourselves in semi-familiar territory from our Friday travels. Despite the energy it took to experience Cat Street from end to end, I was pumped to return to Kiddyland and comb through all of its levels.  Stuffed toys, Hello Kitty galore, an entire floor dedicated to Snoopy (which was really cool, really interesting), electronic insanity, and lots and lots of trinkets.  Long before this trip I had learned about the prevalence of mobile phone trinkets in Tokyo, but it wasn't until seeing the phenomenon firsthand did I want in.  So true to my nature, I picked up one of the more childish mobile companions available, Rilakkuma, despite the fact that my iPhone case has no available slot for trinket-dangling, though that will change when we get home and I recharge my power drill.

After what seemed like several glorious hours, we needed food and a break from standing.  There was an appealing basement noodle house a few doors down on which we settled.  Waiting for what would turn out to be two superb ramen bowls, we chatted up the couple next to us, clearly dressed in goth for Harajuku (or just letting loose) though from San Francisco; she Asian, he Caucasian.  The informed us that the events really turn up at Yoyogi Park around 2pm, and that it generally breaks up around sundown because "they have school tomorrow".  It was around noon at this point, so it was off for more walking and shopping, and then back through Cat Street.

By the time we got to Yoyogi Park for the Harajuku displays, the area was really packed.  (It doesn't help that the cosplay kids picked the tiny bridge between the already busy JR station and the very popular park to pop a squat.)  We just picked a small group of dressed-up kids from the end of Cat Street and followed them to the park using their easily-spotted, very tall Victorian hats.  When we got to the bridge, we saw the cosplay clusters and the tourist flocking around them, and I instinctively whipped out my camera.  I started aiming for a shot but felt very uncomfortable.  Despite the fact that a bunch of the kids were posing with people - and happily it seemed - I didn't feel right.  I felt like I was gawking at something I understood.

While I myself have never cosplay-ed, I get it.  And I respect it.  I'm tangentially involved in the same subculture(s), even if our respective circles never actually cross.  In this respect, I'm a bit of a 'warm & fuzzy', in that I'd look for acceptance from others.  You dress up as vampire on weekends?  Well I read comic books and obsess on sci-fi, and there's no reason why we can't get along.  And there was certainly no reason to alienate them and act like the fucking paparazzi.  We might have misinterpreted the whole thing; Harajuku might have always been a purposeful display for attention and gawking.  But we sided on caution, tipped our hats, and hit the rails.  Shine on, fellow crazy diamonds!

It was off to Shibuya, one stop away, for the department store mecca Tokyu Hands.  The store was, yet again, a confusing hustle from the station, and in the middle of the Tokyo Times Square, no less.  About halfway there we stopped at a cafe to recharge.  We ended up talking to a couple seated next to us, a young girl and an older gentleman, presumably her father or grandfather though we never found out for sure.  Suzuki Yoshio had been describing New York to his daughter/granddaughter/??? Yayoi Akiyama, who was excited at the prospect of visiting in the future.  When he leaned in and asked us where we were from, our response lit them up, and the four of us were off talking about our respective cities.  45 minutes later, we had an open invitation to their hometown of Yokohama, an offer out to host Yayoi when she visits, exchanged email addresses, and a new recommended Tokyo destination for Monday.

After the cafe we hit Tokyu Hands, which is a really amazing department store with 7 floors broken up into thirds, so technically it was 21 floors.  It's a kind of mix between Target, Muji, Michaels, and Ikea.  It's an amazing resource to have if you live near one; we had visions of shopping there often in our fantasy Tokyo life.  We crashed hard in the middle of shopping but we knew if we headed back to the hotel we'd never go back out to eat, so we pushed through and went for dinner in Shibuya.

I did a quick look-up in my guidebook and found a nearby recommendation with sake, called Den Rokuen-Tei.  Thankfully it was easy to find, on the rooftop of a Parco building.  It was great dinner with amazing sake, and at a very reasonable price; all told about $70.  I had been warned about incredibly expensive meals, so we had been cautious about going to dinner too often.  But this being the third day, it was time to splurge a bit, and we still won out on costs.  The restaurant was very elegant too; an all-around great experience capping an all-around great day.