Took a jaunt to Yoyogi Koen in Harajuku

to take a look at the freakage that congregates there on weekends. Just outside Harajuku Station, at the mouth of Yoyogi Park is the famed hangout spot for the cos-play kids. They are misunderstood suburban kids who train into the city and spend their weekends dressed up like Little Bo Peep or uber-goth. I was really excited about seeing them in person, and I was expecting to be blown away by the getups, but I was more blown away by the circus of photographers surrounding them. These kids have been so fetished by the international media that everyone from tourists to old Japanese men come out to have them preen before their cameras. And yes, I was there to take photos as well, but I was so in shock it made it really hard.

There were tons of tourists queuing up to have a photo taken with the freakiest of the costumed. There was a Japanese guy there with a camera lens that was seriously a foot long. There were old Japanese men hanging out with and engaging in serious conversation with 14-year old cos-players. That was the freakshow. There were even gaijin cos-play kids there too! I'm so over it.

Better was a walk into Yoyogi Koen with our new German roomie Alex to check out Meiji-Jingu shrine. Quiet, immaculate grounds and gorgeous architecture. Classic Japan (well, rebuilt in the 50's after WWII bombing) still kicks 21st century Japan's booty.

Afterward we met up with our old friend Chigusa in Shibuya for a drink. She's working two jobs and is crazy to get back to the States. I always feel awful for my female Japanese friends who feel really trapped in Japan because they want something more out of life than Japanese tradition and second-class status. They don't want to marry somebody they have to wait on hand and foot, but unmarried and on their own they have to work themselves to death to get by. Not to mention the social stigma. Did you know there's a word for unmarried women in their 30's and up? It's called maki enu -- loosely translated as a desperate underdog. And the Japanese Parliment tried, but failed, to pass a law that prohibited retirement benefits to women who were unmarried or without children. Chigusa has a BA in Communications, works in a communications company full-time, and at a bowling alley part-time. She makes about $2500 a month. The average company salary in Japan is about $4500. So bunk! But she's doing things on her own, and making her own choices, which is better than a lot of people (even in the States) can say.

Chigusa took us to her work in Kawasaki to go bowling, which was super bitchin'. I won a sweet bowling pin clock, and Trevor received a consolation prize of 3 decades of J-pop hits.