Birdspotting in the land of Hello Kitty

I was tempted to go to the Sanrio Museum, but better sense prevailed. Instead, here are some random observations on Japanese dolls.

At Yoyogi Park, at the entrance from the Harajuky side, darkness has set in and teenagers are busy practising their skateboarding, often with a lit cigarette in hand. A chubby teenage girl is off at one corner, in loose clothes, trying out some stationary move on her skateboard. At another side, a tall, wiry, barebodied gent is trying to teach a female dilettante the proper method to jump, she in a diaphanous white top and jeans I think. On the hike up to Yoyogi just outside Harajuku JR station, two crazies skateboarding downhill, only to jump off the board every 10 yards, screaming, exclaiming to each other, and otherwise providing terrific entertainment.

On the train back to Akasaka, an exquisite - EXQUISITE - beauty with skin as pale as ivory and a face as sweet as any you can imagine, head bowed down, not demure but just concentrating on her mobile phone. At the other end of the carriage, three tubby teenage girls in that queer Japanese fashion, clearly out to crash a party or raise the roof, but insecure and excited all the same.  At Yoyogi, hundreds of people pouring out of the Stadium, mostly women - the billboard said something about "Girls Award Night" or some such stuff.

The fasion trend of the day in Harajuku seems to be some kind of a hairband or ribbon with a bow on top, pointing upward, perhaps symbolizing a bunny or the devil.

Over sidewalk cafes and bars, more females were admired. A slight, pretty, young thing in her thirties in a black blouse and white and black silk skirt, carrying a little boy - maybe 3 or 4 years old - way too big to be carried. I never envied a little boy so much.