buildings, buildings

audi building slash glass sculpture...

coolest nike store ever...

toons peeking out...

white light never looked so cool....

top floor not really on top....

yun lang :)

harajuku's security guards

irrishaemasheee!

pompiduku

japan's fascination with the french is apparent everywhere we go...

in this small artsy area of west harajuku, we saw this:

doesn't it remind you of the pompidou?

it's an art gallery, made up of smaller galleries -- most of them with the actual artists hanging around them!

creepy...

anyhoo, i think the japanese & french really share a lot of things in common:

- love for all things small and intricate

- serious fashion sensibilities

- distinct and delicate cuisines

- an almost 'us first, tourists later' way of thinking 

- strong sense of heritage

and perhaps more.

kitschy frenchy

hi, sis!  i'm always wondering how you are in remote nepal!????

anyhoo, remembered you more during this lunch...

on our favorite walking street (cat street) in tokyo,

lies this cutest french resto...

it is right uppppp our alley!!!  i was thinking, if you and i had a store, it would totally look like this...

the restroom...

the store upstairs that sells all these cutesy frenchy stuff...

oh by the way, this is what we ate...  (duck confit for twinpophub, and a cheese galette for me)...

wish i took a photo of the waitress... she was as cute and quirky as the store.

yun lang.  see you soon!!!

bike rack bench

sis, i'm not sure how far along you're going with your bike advocacy -- but i think you should take a look at this...

this is a photo i took of railings along the sidewalks of omotesando/harajuku area of tokyo.  

they serve as both a bike rack and a bench... quite clever!

yun lang :)

jappy archi

some of the coolest buildings are found in tokyo...  most of the cool ones are retail buildings.  like these ones along ginza (the 5th ave of tokyo)...

dior & tods...

hermes...

h&m...

the roponggi hills complex by tadao ando...

inside it...

these low rise buildings in harajuku...

harajuku's version of a nike store....

the swanky omotesando area has cool ones too...

this prada building is super duper cool (inside and out)....  by tadao ando also...  

inside omotesando hills, a mall that ramps up (kinda like the guggenheim)...

the namba parks mall in osaka...

datsit pusit :)

harajuku fever!!!

my gosh.  that had got to be the craziest saturday.

first our evanglista, then spaghetti lunch with my messy bessy girls, then the book fair and then this: a harajuku party!!!  

it was for the 19th birthday of my nieces-in-law.

chickout the setup...

my melody centerpiece...

anime cupcakes...

the waitress...

sushi!!!

more japanese food!

and best of all.... sake!

a cool shooters bar from soberclub!

guitar hero!!!

(kyut boys... hihihihi)

(hams... hihihihihi)

videoke!!!

then come the costumes...

only a (very) few of the celebrants' friends came in costume...

unlike the titos, titas, nephews, nieces who went full-on!

(the perfect harajuku 'do!)

(not so harajuku-y.... hihihihihi)

(domo arigato gozaimashtaaaaa!)