Shopping

Souvenir shopping in Japan is half the fun of the trip — but the choices can be overwhelming. Here are the souvenirs (omiyage) that travelers actually love and use, organized by type, with tips on where to buy them. Snacks & Sweets (Always a Hit) Regional KitKats — matcha, sake, and seasonal flavors you can’t get abroad Tokyo Banana and other famous regional sweets Konbini snacks — surprisingly great and cheap (grab a variety) Matcha-flavored everything — chocolate, cookies, candy These are cheap, light, and loved by everyone back home. ...

Harajuku: Where Fashion Has No Rules In a country famous for conformity, Harajuku has always been the exception. Every Sunday for decades, young Japanese gathered near Yoyogi Park in Harajuku to show off the most creative, extreme, and imaginative outfits the world had ever seen — Gothic Lolitas, Visual Kei musicians, Decora girls covered in plastic accessories, and Fruits-style freestyle fashion that blended vintage, streetwear, and sheer invention. Today, the street fashion scene has evolved — the famous Sunday bridge gatherings have faded, but Harajuku remains the epicenter of Japan’s creative fashion universe. The Takeshita Street (竹下通り), the main shopping lane, still buzzes with energy, and the surrounding streets hide boutiques that are genuinely world-class. ...