Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's fashion


Multimillion diamonds
Couple about to leave the hyper-chic Prada store in Ayama.
omotesando
Passersby pass in front of a window in the sophisticated neighborhood of Omotesando.
another fashion
Goth-androgen-looking teenager in Harajuku.
Nissan
Employees promote a new Nissan brand model.
Ginza-Shiseido
Casal strolls in front of the luxurious windows of Ginza, the most valuable neighborhood in the Japanese capital.
tinned t-shirts
Teenagers choose t-shirts packaged in a mirrored shop in Harajuku.
street models
Models promote a brand on one of the main streets in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood.
Geek Fashion
Teenager dressed in fashion also known internationally for geek.
Criminal-Police Fashion
Passersby admire the creative window of a store in Ginza.
wedding fashion
Guests at a traditional Shinto wedding display expensive and sophisticated garments and bags.
street makeup
A woman improvises makeup on a street in Shibuya.
Prada by Herzog & De Meuron
An employee descends a staircase in the elegant building of the Prada store in the Ayama district.
Lolita
Lolita exhibits, in Harajuku, a look that is much appreciated by a layer of Japanese cosplay fans.
for cinderellas
Exquisite shoe showcase in the Omotesando district.
endless tokyo
Panoramic view of a seemingly endless Tokyo.
In ultra-populous and hyper-coded Japan, there is always room for more sophistication and creativity. Whether national or imported, it is in the capital that they begin to parade the new Japanese looks.

A small flag flutters over the clock tower of the Wako warehouses.

The dial reads 14.05 and clocks another sunny afternoon on the radiant Chuo-dori avenue.

We are in the heart of Ginza, the Tokyo neighborhood known, among other wonders, for having the most expensive real estate on the face of the Earth and second only to its neighbor Chiyoda, where the emperor resides.

From 1612 to 1800, this neighborhood housed the mint that produced part of the silver cash that circulated in Japan. The factory, in addition to invigorating the Japanese economy, ended up lending its name to the area and, today, more than ever, that name fits him perfectly.

couple, shop windows, ginza, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Casal strolls in front of the luxurious windows of Ginza, the most valuable neighborhood in the Japanese capital.

The Exquisite and Sophisticated Tokyo of Ginza

One square meter of land in the center of Ginza is worth around 100.000 euros (around 10 million yen). Virtually all the leading brands in the fashion and cosmetics world have a glamorous presence there.

They attract wealthy families driven by eager wives and groups of young people obsessed with the colors and shapes of the most famous logos. City authorities know how much this consumer fever can yield.

harajuku, t-shirt, tin, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Teenagers choose t-shirts packaged in a mirrored shop in Harajuku.

On weekends, they close the avenue to traffic, from early morning until almost dusk. They hand it over to a crowd that roams and re-walks from top to bottom under the smug gaze of Western models on the high billboards.

We leave Le Café Doutor, half-recovered from fatigue for a hot drink, and embark on the new adventure in this incorrigible realm of capitalism that a Buddhist monk in a yellow cape, a conical bamboo hat and white ankle boots seems to challenge, begging for alms from busy souls .

Across the street, an upscale Nissan booth is overcrowded. Inside, its new model Z Fairlady is displayed on a chrome and swivel platform and the space is not enough for so many interested parties.

Nissan, car, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Employees promote a new Nissan brand model.

Curious and occasional photographers compete for each piece of the vehicle and several lost heads follow the presentations of the car through the window.

The Japanese Fashion of Consumerism

We continue down Chuo-dori and, after passing countless idolized multinational stores, we find an orderly line of more than 100 meters that fills part of the avenue's sidewalk and serves as a pretext for a city policeman to pass the time, ordering them forward and step back who is misaligned, even if only 10 or 20 centimeters.

The store where the queue starts offers a short period of discounts and has been around since it opened its doors, forcing the last customers to have endless waits.

Other strategies serve the same attraction. We turn our backs and are faced with a formation of Japanese models that parade along the road at long paces and adapted to that asphalt catwalk.

In suggestive mini-skirts and high-heeled gladiator sandals, the teenagers stand out from the short passers-by and promote the irreverent design of such a new Esperanza collection.

models, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Models promote a brand on one of the main streets in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood.

The predominant female dedication to appearance increasingly motivates the opposite sex to take care of themselves. To the point that, in Tokyo, and all over Japan, many men now walk around with suitcases, wallets and fanny packs as genuine as faces, made up, with eyebrows fixed.

On other occasions, we have investigated the phenomenon in commercial areas that compete with the metropolis and the truth is that, apart from one variable or another, the generalized consumerist tendency remains.

Omotesando, Aoyama, Shibuya – A Whole Urban Frenzy for Profit

In the upscale areas of Omotesando and Aoyama, some of the world's fashion gurus – Prada, Louis Vuitton, Channel, Empório Armani, Dior etc. – they have hired architectural gurus and built splendid branches that add value to their products and to the metropolis.

Prada, Ayama, Work, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

An employee descends a staircase in the elegant building of the Prada store in the Ayama district.

Shibuya has become even more famous since “Lost in Translation” once again revealed his most crossed crossing in the world.

I didn't need the extra stimulus but, in competitive Tokyo, all outreach actions – planned or spontaneous – are welcome and many thousands of foreigners are known to visit the area every year just to admire the strange ebb and flow. urban people.

Those who do, reveal the creative freshness of Japanese youth and the fashions and countless sub-fashions of the street: the lolita, the gyaru (hyper-makeup and produced women in general), the kogal (which uses school uniforms), among so many others.

gothic, young, portrait, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Goth-androgen-looking teenager in Harajuku.

They also discover parallel manifestations of Japanese culture such as the cult of purikura (amazing digital photography and post-processing stores), the design of noisy halls of pashiko (game of chance based on a movement of spheres, to which many natives have become addicted) and the exotic vision of black rappers who call clients to the “Americanized” bars and clubs for which they work.

The Creative Stronghold and Outside the Harajuku Box

Nearby, the Harajuku district stretches the concept of creativity to the maximum tolerated by Japanese society and goes beyond the limits without major ceremonies.

The unprejudiced stores on Takeshita Street delight teenagers who find clothes and accessories there that allow them to build their exclusive styles, recycled or deprived after just a few days.

In such a way, brands use them as thermometers and testing centers for their most daring products.

Hundreds of trains a day stop at the Harajuku railway station and pass under the wide bridge that leads from the neighborhood to Yoyogi Forest Park and its Meiji Temple, a duo that continue to safeguard the city's Japanese Shinto honor.

Cosplay, Tokyobillies and a Count of Other Fashions

When we cross it, the bridge is handed over to Tokyo's most exotic urban clans. Shy Lolitas chat in the surroundings but it is the androgynous Visual key cosplay characters that stand out the most: those who wear striking makeup, hair and clothes, in a black way.

Besides them, the Dolly Key, inspired by the Japanese vision of the Middle Ages and fables, and the Fairy Key, an 80's variant of Lolitas that uses different tones and patterns.

lolita, portrait, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Lolita exhibits, in Harajuku, a look that is much appreciated by a layer of Japanese cosplay fans.

They are only a tiny part of the currents of the prolific street fashion of Tokyo.

Two rockablies and proud bikers to salarymen of black facts and the edoko geeks (from Tokyo), Japanese expressions intersect in the vast metropolis and compose a spectrum that does not stop renewing itself.

Opportunistic businessmen in the capital know how to exploit this wealth. Brands such as A Bathing Ape, Comme des Garçons, Evisu, Head Porter, Original Fake, Uniqlo, Visvim, W, TAPs and XLarge employ the best breeders and generate astronomical profits.

sandals, shoes, showcase, Fashion, Tokyo, Japan

Exquisite shoe showcase in the Omotesando district.

Not everyone is consensual. Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo have become the exponents of Japanese fashion and their pieces are displayed at the most renowned fashion events.

And yet, in many countries, all too often, their creations are considered impossible to wear.

Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

Tokyo's Meiji Temple was erected to honor the deified spirits of one of the most influential couples in Japanese history. Over time, it specialized in celebrating traditional weddings.
Tokyo, Japan

Japanese Style Passaport-Type Photography

In the late 80s, two Japanese multinationals already saw conventional photo booths as museum pieces. They turned them into revolutionary machines and Japan surrendered to the Purikura phenomenon.
Tokyo, Japan

The Emperor Without Empire

After the capitulation in World War II, Japan underwent a constitution that ended one of the longest empires in history. The Japanese emperor is, today, the only monarch to reign without empire.
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Tokyo, Japan

Pachinko: The Video - Addiction That Depresses Japan

It started as a toy, but the Japanese appetite for profit quickly turned pachinko into a national obsession. Today, there are 30 million Japanese surrendered to these alienating gaming machines.
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
Helsinki, Finland

The Design that Came from the Cold

With much of the territory above the Arctic Circle, Finns respond to the climate with efficient solutions and an obsession with art, aesthetics and modernism inspired by neighboring Scandinavia.
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
Okinawa, Japan

Ryukyu Dances: Centuries old. In No Hurry.

The Ryukyu kingdom prospered until the XNUMXth century as a trading post for the China and Japan. From the cultural aesthetics developed by its courtly aristocracy, several styles of slow dance were counted.
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
Iriomote, Japan

The Small Tropical Japanese Amazon of Iriomote

Impenetrable rainforests and mangroves fill Iriomote under a pressure cooker climate. Here, foreign visitors are as rare as the yamaneko, an elusive endemic lynx.
Nikko, Japan

The Tokugawa Shogun Final Procession

In 1600, Ieyasu Tokugawa inaugurated a shogunate that united Japan for 250 years. In her honor, Nikko re-enacts the general's medieval relocation to Toshogu's grandiose mausoleum every year.
Nara, Japan

The Colossal Cradle of the Japanese Buddhism

Nara has long since ceased to be the capital and its Todai-ji temple has been demoted. But the Great Hall remains the largest ancient wooden building in the world. And it houses the greatest bronze Vairocana Buddha.
Takayama, Japan

From the Ancient Japan to the Medieval Hida

In three of its streets, Takayama retains traditional wooden architecture and concentrates old shops and sake producers. Around it, it approaches 100.000 inhabitants and surrenders to modernity.
Okinawa, Japan

The Little Empire of the Sun

Risen from the devastation caused by World War II, Okinawa has regained the heritage of its secular Ryukyu civilization. Today, this archipelago south of Kyushu is home to a Japan on the shore, anchored by a turquoise Pacific ocean and bathed in a peculiar Japanese tropicalism.
Kyoto, Japan

An Almost Lost Millennial Japan

Kyoto was on the US atomic bomb target list and it was more than a whim of fate that preserved it. Saved by an American Secretary of War in love with its historical and cultural richness and oriental sumptuousness, the city was replaced at the last minute by Nagasaki in the atrocious sacrifice of the second nuclear cataclysm.
Ogimashi, Japan

A Village Faithful to the A

Ogimashi reveals a fascinating heritage of Japanese adaptability. Located in one of the most snowy places on Earth, this village has perfected houses with real anti-collapse structures.
Magome-Tsumago, Japan

Magome to Tsumago: The Overcrowded Path to the Medieval Japan

In 1603, the Tokugawa shogun dictated the renovation of an ancient road system. Today, the most famous stretch of the road that linked Edo to Kyoto is covered by a mob eager to escape.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Okavango Delta, Not all rivers reach the sea, Mokoros
safari
Okavango Delta, Botswana

Not all rivers reach the sea

Third longest river in southern Africa, the Okavango rises in the Angolan Bié plateau and runs 1600km to the southeast. It gets lost in the Kalahari Desert where it irrigates a dazzling wetland teeming with wildlife.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
by the shadow
Architecture & Design
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Aventura
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
Kente Festival Agotime, Ghana, gold
Ceremonies and Festivities
Kumasi to Kpetoe, Ghana

A Celebration-Trip of the Ghanian Fashion

After some time in the great Ghanaian capital ashanti we crossed the country to the border with Togo. The reasons for this long journey were the kente, a fabric so revered in Ghana that several tribal chiefs dedicate a sumptuous festival to it every year.
cozy Vegas
Cities
Las Vegas, USA

World Capital of Weddings vs Sin City

The greed of the game, the lust of prostitution and the widespread ostentation are all part of Las Vegas. Like the chapels that have neither eyes nor ears and promote eccentric, quick and cheap marriages.
Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi
Lunch time
Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Culture
Campeche, Mexico

200 Years of Playing with Luck

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the peasants surrendered to a game introduced to cool the fever of cash cards. Today, played almost only for Abuelites, lottery little more than a fun place.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Bark Europa, Beagle Channel, Evolution, Darwin, Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego
Traveling
Beagle Channel, Argentina

Darwin and the Beagle Channel: on the Theory of the Evolution Route

In 1833, Charles Darwin sailed aboard the "Beagle" through the channels of Tierra del Fuego. His passage through these southern confines shaped the revolutionary theory he formulated of the Earth and its species
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Ethnic
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Embassy, ​​Nikko, Spring Festival Shunki-Reitaisai, Toshogu Tokugawa Procession, Japan
History
Nikko, Japan

The Tokugawa Shogun Final Procession

In 1600, Ieyasu Tokugawa inaugurated a shogunate that united Japan for 250 years. In her honor, Nikko re-enacts the general's medieval relocation to Toshogu's grandiose mausoleum every year.
Tobago, Pigeon Point, Scarborough, Pontoon
Islands
Scarborough a Pigeon Point, Tobago

Probing the Capital Tobago

From the walled heights of Fort King George, to the threshold of Pigeon Point, southwest Tobago around the capital Scarborough reveals unrivaled controversial tropics.
Sampo Icebreaker, Kemi, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
Nature
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Girl plays with leaves on the shore of the Great Lake at Catherine Palace
Autumn
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Golden Days Before the Storm

Aside from the political and military events precipitated by Russia, from mid-September onwards, autumn takes over the country. In previous years, when visiting Saint Petersburg, we witnessed how the cultural and northern capital was covered in a resplendent yellow-orange. A dazzling light that hardly matches the political and military gloom that had spread in the meantime.
Everglades National Park, Florida, United States, flight over the Everglades canals
Natural Parks
Everglades National Park, Florida, USA

Florida's Great Weedy River

Anyone who flies over the south of the 27th state is amazed by the green, smooth and soggy vastness that contrasts with the surrounding oceanic tones. This unique U.S. marsh-prairie ecosystem is home to a prolific fauna dominated by 200 of Florida's 1.25 million alligators.
Cape Town, South Africa, Nelson Mandela
UNESCO World Heritage
Cape Town, South Africa

In the End: the Cape

The crossing of Cabo das Tormentas, led by Bartolomeu Dias, transformed this almost southern tip of Africa into an unavoidable scale. And, over time, in Cape Town, one of the meeting points of civilizations and monumental cities on the face of the Earth.
Zorro's mask on display at a dinner at the Pousada Hacienda del Hidalgo, El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico
Characters
El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico

Zorro's Cradle

El Fuerte is a colonial city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. In its history, the birth of Don Diego de La Vega will be recorded, it is said that in a mansion in the town. In his fight against the injustices of the Spanish yoke, Don Diego transformed himself into an elusive masked man. In El Fuerte, the legendary “El Zorro” will always take place.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.
Sanahin Cable Car, Armenia
Religion
Alaverdi, Armenia

A Cable Car Called Ensejo

The top of the Debed River Gorge hides the Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghpat and terraced Soviet apartment blocks. Its bottom houses the copper mine and smelter that sustains the city. Connecting these two worlds is a providential suspended cabin in which the people of Alaverdi count on traveling in the company of God.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
On Rails
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Ijen Volcano, Slaves of Sulfur, Java, Indonesia
Society
Ijen volcano, Indonesia

The Ijen Volcano Sulphur Slaves

Hundreds of Javanese surrender to the Ijen volcano where they are consumed by poisonous gases and loads that deform their shoulders. Each turn earns them less than €30 but everyone is grateful for their martyrdom.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
Gandoca Manzanillo Refuge, Bahia
Wildlife
Gandoca-Manzanillo (Wildlife Refuge), Costa Rica

The Caribbean Hideaway of Gandoca-Manzanillo

At the bottom of its southeastern coast, on the outskirts of Panama, the “Tica” nation protects a patch of jungle, swamps and the Caribbean Sea. As well as a providential wildlife refuge, Gandoca-Manzanillo is a stunning tropical Eden.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.