Harajuku

A narrow, crowded lane explodes with colour: shops selling outrageous fashion, rainbow sweets, and toys, teenagers in bold outfits, and crepe stands on every corner. Just beyond, a great forested shrine offers sudden calm. This is Harajuku, the centre of Tokyo's youth fashion and a study in extremes packed into a few streets.

The heart of it is a narrow pedestrian lane, packed shoulder to shoulder, lined with small shops selling cheap, wild, and trend-setting fashion aimed at the young. For decades it has been the place where Tokyo's street styles are born and shown off.

Harajuku gave its name to a whole world of bold, playful street fashion, and on weekends especially you may see young people in elaborate, colourful, sometimes outlandish outfits. The freedom to dress as a form of self-expression is the district's signature.

The lane is famous for its food as much as its clothes, above all giant, overstuffed crepes and other brightly coloured, photogenic sweets. Eating something absurd and delicious as you push through the crowd is part of the Harajuku experience.

A short walk away, everything changes. The grand, tree-lined avenue nearby is the opposite of the teenage lane: a wide boulevard of designer flagship stores and striking modern architecture, where high fashion replaces street style.

Beyond the shops lies a complete contrast again: a great shrine set in a deep, quiet forest, approached through tall wooden gates. Dedicated to a past emperor and empress, it is one of the most important shrines in the city, and stepping into its green calm from the crowded lane is a shock in the best way.

The forest around the shrine was planted a century ago from trees donated from across the country, and it has grown into a dense, peaceful wood in the middle of the city. The walk through it to the shrine is as much the point as the shrine itself.

Next to the shrine spreads a large park, a gathering place for joggers, picnickers, performers, and, on Sundays, sometimes groups of musicians and dancers. Together with the shrine forest it gives Harajuku a vast green lung beside its frantic shopping streets.

The district is at its most extreme on weekends, when the crowds and the most striking street fashion peak. Weekdays are calmer if you prefer to browse the shops without the crush, though you will see fewer of the boldest outfits.

The pleasure of Harajuku is the swing between extremes: the wild lane, the designer avenue, and the silent forest shrine, all within a short walk. Doing the three in one visit is the classic way to take in the district.

A few practical notes. The shops keep daytime hours and the lane is busiest on weekend afternoons; the shrine and park are free. Keep moving in the crowded lane, and be ready for a sharp change of mood as you step from the shops into the forest.

Step from the noise and colour of the fashion lane into the quiet of the shrine forest, and the contrast tells you something about Tokyo itself: a city that holds the loudest novelty and the deepest calm side by side. When you walk back toward the crowds, both stay with you.