Day 7: Fashion and Music

You probably couldn't tell but I've been somewhat avoiding the busiest parts of Tokyo - Shibuyu, Shinjuku, Ginza, etc. I don't particularly have anything against those parts of town, but I'm not super eager to end up there, especially if I end up being stuck there during rush hour. But that streak ends today since I visiting Shibuya!

Upon stepping out of the station into Shibuya scramble, I actually thought it felt less busy than usual. Like even though it was packed, it only felt like 100% packed, not 120% for example.

I thought it felt busier last time I was here

What I failed to realize at the time was that the people were in Shibuya, just elsewhere. We'll get back to that in a bit.

The first stop I made was at MAGNET by SHIBUYA109. I remembered it having some collaboration events last time so wanted to check it out since the regular SHIBUYA109 is just full of fashion boutiques. It was lucky that I did because one of my favorite shows of this year, Girls Band Cry, was having a collab pop-up shop.

I think my biggest complaint with pop-ups for more niche, less well merchandised properties is that the goods are always expensive. My guess is that it's because they know you can't get different goods on the secondhand market, since no others exist even. Nothing had prices marked, so I settled on a small acrylic stand which ended up being something like ¥2,000.

After going back outside, I was able to find out that there was an event going on. Or multiple events going on? I still can't really tell. I don't have any good photos of any of it, so please forgive me in advance.

The first was the SHIBUYA109 L♡VE MUSIC FES (2024) to celebrate SHIBUYA109's 45th anniversary. Amazon was handing out heart-shaped paper fans LOL Bezos butting in everywhere...

The next was Shibuya Fashion Week, which included a runway in middle of the street. This was pretty cool and the closest I've ever seen any models. I was so confused at first though. I didn't get a shot of this, but I did find a video of the show here.

I think both of the previous events are technically part of a bigger event (or partnered with it?), the 19th Shibuya Music Festival called the Shibuya Music Scramble. I think there are paid venues as well but there were multiple other smaller street performances going on that I stumbled across. One had a guy playing trumpet serenading the crowd. Another that I stopped and watched for a bit was a tap dancing duo and DJ.

I could only find one of the tapper's (?) social media accounts: SARO. According to the website he linked, he's been doing it since he was 9! Pretty nifty!

After wandering around for a bit and taking in the sites, I did an hour or two of the normal crane game and shopping rigamarole and by that time I started to get a headache so went home for the day.