Where to Gyaru

The area between Shibuya and Harajuku is Mecca for Japanese "Gyaru," cool young girls. The two places where these girls converge in each location is at 109 in Shibuya and Takeshita Street in Harajuku. 109 is a department store, where many of the most popular Gyaru brands have their prestige shops. It is also the place where many magazine idols work to support their "careers" as fashion models. Many younger Gyaru aspire to be like their fashion model idols, so they congregate at 109, purchase clothes, bags, and accessories, and hope that they will be "scouted" to become the next "gravure" idol.

Takeshita Street is fashion central for high school girls. Really, though, the area around Takeshita Street caters primarily to girls much younger than that. Junior high school girls can be seen walking in groups and primary school girls are often seen with their moms. The moms are often also dressed in similar kogal fashion, trying, it seems, to return to their youth through their clothes and image. Often, they are lured by salespeople who "mistake" the pair for "sisters," exhorting surprise when hearing that they are, in fact, mother and daughter.