BusyCowboy

JapanForum’s group gallery of Harajuku fashion is gigantic, fantastic and mind-blowingly weird!

For those who are unfamiliar with this unique Japanese culture:

The term “Harajuku Girls” has been used by English-language media to describe teenagers dressed in any fashion style who are in the area of Harajuku. These girls may be members of various sub-cultures including Gothic Lolita, Ganguro, Gyaru, and Kogal. They may also be dressed as characters from an anime, movie, or manga (known as cosplay).

In the 1980s large numbers of street performers and wildly dressed teens including takenoko-zoku (竹の子族, “bamboo-shoot kids”) gathered on Omotesandō and the street that passes through Yoyogi Park on Sundays when the streets were closed to traffic. The streets were reopened to traffic in the 90s, and a great number of teens stopped gathering there. Today there are still teenagers hanging out in Harajuku, mostly on the bridge across the train tracks from Harajuku station to Yoyogi Park.