Takeshita Street
I’m sorry but I don’t understand the thrill of Takeshita Street. It’s just a walkway with bubble gum pink shops and bubble gum pink eateries. Nothing extraordinary here but at the same time, I can see how it can appeal to people, especially young people.
Fast Fashion for Youth
There are a lot of shops for teens and young adults. The fast fashion offered in these shops is something your average adult from the states will not be able to fit into, no matter how petite he/she may be. And that might be disappointing when you consider how many people visit Takeshita Street with the hopeful intention of buying something.
While nothing in particular caught my eye, a rather unique hooded sweatshirt piqued my interest especially since it was on sale. I ended up not buying it because:
- The sale wasn’t good enough.
- I couldn’t find a size that would fit me comfortably.
- The employee didn’t bother to acknowledge my presence but watched me from the counter.
Not Friendly
The lack of hospitality didn’t stop with that clothing store employee, unfortunately.
At Daiso, a guard had the nerve to follow me around and he didn’t even bother to greet me or smile. As I always say it, no one owes me a greeting or even a smile, but if you deal with customers in any way, a smile truly is the least you can offer a prospective customer.
I don’t know what his problem was but I have a funny feeling that he was labeling me as a foreign visitor that for whatever reason, can’t be trusted. As if all of their “own” people can be trusted, right?
You’d think in a place like Tokyo, a native working as a security guard would be less judging and suspicious of foreigners but it turns out that their exposure to foreigners has made them “experts” at differentiating natives from API foreigners and as a result, extra wary of these foreigners simply because foreigners are “less than” Japanese. This level of xenophobia and superiority complex in Japan reaks and if you don’t experience it (or notice it, rather), consider yourself lucky.
A-hole guard aside, the young male cashier that tended to me was fortunately the very opposite of that rotten man. So opposite that his level of respect and cheerfulness scared the heck out of me. (I honestly had a moment of how tf do I respond to this?) This young guy was definitely my saving grace because if it wasn’t for him, I would’ve really left annoyed and quite bitter. Ugh.
Oh, and if you thought this was the only guard that was rude to me on Takeshita Street, you’re wrong.
There was another guard I caught sight of a bit too many times for my comfort level while I was visiting another store. I found him weird, although to be fair, he probably found me weird. (Foreigners = weird in Japan. Meh.) Fortunately, he wasn’t as bad as the rotten man I had encountered earlier, but it also doesn’t change the fact that he was doing some type of unnecessary profiling and targeting, too.
Like, can’t a visitor have some peace? Ugh.
Not Welcomed
There’s this saying that Japan is “open” to foreign visitors but very much against foreigners becoming residents of Japan. While there’s some truth to that, I think it’s more accurate to say that the average Japanese native does not even want foreigners to be in Japan in the first place. (Perhaps we can blame this on whoever decided to close off the country from the rest of the world for a ridiculously long time… Yup, their famous Shogun!) While I’m not saying there isn’t any Japanese native that’s open to foreigners, it is a rarity to encounter one that is genuinely open to foreigners. Japan is afterall behind on issues revolving around race and discrimination.
Skip Takeshita Street
Obviously, I don’t really care for Takeshita Street. It’s a crowded place with not much to offer. I definitely do not think it’s worth the visit. For the younger crowd, it might be a nice place to visit for fashion and whatnot but from what I know, you can probably find better fashion elsewhere in Tokyo.
If it’s the Daiso you want to visit, let’s just say that there are Daisos elsewhere in Japan. It’s definitely not necessary to come to this specific Daiso while in Tokyo. Plus, if you’re from the states, we have Daisos also. So, it’s not a biggie to skip out on Daiso altogether even if their Daisos are better stocked and cheaper.
Tips
If you’re going to visit Takeshita Street despite me telling you that it’s ok not to, visit early. You want to visit during the day since the shops here close rather early.
Once it gets dark, Takeshita Street becomes isolated and borderline sketchy looking. I’m not sure if it was done for the purpose of aesthetics but practically every store’s closing gate has graffiti on them. This unfortunately is something you won’t catch sight of unless you visit when stores are closing.