(Tokyo, Japan) If American culture were a shape, it would be the rising arrow of a bull stock market. If Japanese culture were a shape, it’d be a circle. If American culture puts a high value on ‘individualism’ then the Japanese culture puts the same value on ‘conformity’. If American culture emphasizes ’standing out’, Japanese culture emphasizes ‘fitting in’. In fact one professor friend of mine said that the Japanese education system has an often-referred to saying that translates roughly to, “If a nail sticks out, pound it in.” While I can neither confirm nor refute that, I will say conformity was clearly seen and felt in my time in Japan.

It seems while my American friends are all trying to figure out how to stand-out, most Japanese instinctively try to blend in, often by deferring their own wishes to the wishes of the group—even at the expense of their own hopes and dreams. This seemed to hold true in all parts of Japan, until I stumbled into Harajuku—easily my favorite stop during my two weeks criss-crossing the country.

Harajuku is the name for an area in the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo that is most famous for the Harajuku Girls (made even more famous by Gwen Stefani’s controversial backup dancers of the same name. See Salon article). Harajuku is the epicenter of Japan’s edgy and somewhat schizophrenic fashion industry.

Walking down Takeshita-dōri (left), the energetic, bustling, packed, and extremely narrow street of cramped little shops selling all fandagled fashions, is something that’s really hard to explain in words, and is in all honesty something I’d put on a ‘Life To Do List,’ up there with seeing the Pyramids of Egypt and visiting the Statue of Liberty.

On weekends (especially Sundays) the street is full of boisterous, gossiping, hip, Japanese youngsters with gelled up hair, knee high socks (for the girls), jewelry and make-up (for the girls and guys) and a fashion sense that, I’m fairly certain, has no equal in all the world. Despite the boundary-breaking fashions, the shops seem to all be consistently about a decade and a half behind in their musical selections—in our three visits there I heard, for the first time since my teens, the likes of Bobby Brown, TLC, Salt-n-Peppa, and Bell Biv DeVoe (did you know that song had a music video…sorry I didn’t have MTV growing up). The funny thing about Harajuku is if I was walking in my Bell Biv DeVoe inspired high-topped Jordans, MC Hammer pants, and was sporting a 9-inch flat top, I don’t think I’d be entirely out of place.

I’m not saying that anyone was dressed like a hip-hop MC, but more so everyone was dressed so crazy, that those conservatively dressed(or over the age of 40) were more than likely the ones that stuck out. As MiHi Ahn may have put it best in the above linked Salon article, “To the uninitiated, harajuku style can look like what might happen if a 5-year-old girl jacked up on liquor and goofballs decided to become a stylist.”

It’s possible there were some goofballs and liquor in one of the about half dozen stuffed-crepes I ate when I visited there (an unbelievably awesome, yet somehow doesn’t seem quite Japanese, food that was served up out of little fast-food windows up and down the street, drawing lines that at times ran a block or two) but I loved the whole scene. If I moved to Japan, I’m living in Harajuku.

Harajuku was about as far away as a person could get from all pre-conceived notions I had of Japan before I came. Though I didn’t have much time to chat with the Harajuku girls, besides the fact I don’t speak Japanese, I’m fascinated to try to understand how a place (and its people) like that exists in a culture that teaches little boys and girls to conform at all costs. Is this a form of rebellion? Is this fun? Where can I buy some of those goofballs? Does human nature propel us to be ‘individuals’ or it is just something I’ve learned from growing up American.

Being part Japanese myself, I can instinctively sense a desire to ‘put the group above oneself,’ but also being an American, I know and firmly believe in the value of being an individual and following your own dreams. I regret I didn’t take more time to talk to some of these young people cause I wonder what they’d say. If anyone can offer some insight, please feel free to chime in the comment section below. See WikiTravel for tips on planning your own trip there. Beyond that I’ll just let some photos of the streets of Harajuku speak for themselves…

Harajuku Girl (courtesy PepeWk)

Harajuku Girls (courtesy Kidcadaver)

Harajuku Girls (courtesy Kidcadaver)

Harajuku Girls (courtesy Sheriff Mitchell)

Harajuku Girl (courtesy Chee Weng)

Harajuku Girl (Courtesy Camera Freak)

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What you are can from here:

• Read comments left by other readers about this post, or leave a comment yourself.
• Stunned by The Harajuku girls?  Now laugh yourself to death with “Things That Make Me Laugh: Japan #1″
• Read the Salon.com article on Gwen Stefani mentioned above.
• Watch that Bell Biv DeVoe music video one more time.  (It’s drivin’ me out of my mind!)