Japan: Day 7b - Kiddy Land, Harajuku

Harajuku (huh-RAJ-koo, with a slight schwa after the RAJ) is the fashion centre of Tokyo, particularly kawaii fashion ("cute" - think Hello Kitty).

But first we went to Kiddy Land (or Kiddy Rand-o, as the taxi driver confirmed once he understood where we were going). This is a toy store filled primarily with branded merchandise.

There whole bottom floor is dedicated to Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang.

The whole top floor is given over to Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma (relaxed bear). (Hello Kitty was all through the store too, of course).

And the five floors between include an astonishing array of stuff.

Phallic mushrooms assail you as you walk in the door

You can have a mushroom dressed as the Tokyo Tower dangling off your phone

You'll need one of these to have a nanoblock (tiny Lego) critter on your phone

There is Totoro and other Studio Ghibli creations

and Amalka

and Miffy

and dozens others besides. There was Pikachu

If I could have found a small dragon, I would have got one

and Sean the Sheep

and some kittens/puppies that make sounds when you pat them

There were dozens of display cases filled with action figure collectibles

and plenty of Star Wars stuff

Light saber chopsticks

and various other bits and pieces

They're all erasers

They just look like toy bento

We got out fairly lightly, with a couple of small Kimmi dolls for my nieces, a Totoro for Ky, and a 3D puzzle/model airplane/helicopter kit for Jos.