Travel photos – Experience the crowds during Golden week in Harajuku, Tokyo

Golden Week holidays of Japan fell on the week from 29th April until 6th May this year 2012. This is the longest bank holidays in Japan as 4 public holidays fall on the same week and all travel destinations in Japan were packed with local Japanese who were taking long leave for a getaway domestically. All Japan travel guides will advice foreign travelers to avoid visiting Japan during this period due to huge crowds and high demand in all tourists spots, stations and hotels. Having said that, if you are keen on people looking, like me, you will find a lot of local faces to admire. But be prepared to spend unnecessary time waiting in long queue at various hot tourist spots.

If you wish to know how crowded it was at shopping streets in Harajuku, Shibuya of Tokyo on Saturday of Golden Week, here are some photos that I captured recently there in person…

Harajuku (原宿) is an area of Shibuya (渋谷), in between Shinjuku and Shibuya train station. It is famous for its 2 shopping streets, Omotesando and Takeshita Streets. Both are next to the Harajuku train station and are flooded with many trendy shops, street fashion boutiques includes domestic and international brand names such as Nike, H&M and more.

Look at the crowds!

While Takeshita street is a pedetrian shopping street, Omotesando is a vehicle road with 1 km long shopping outlets lining up along both sides, similar to what we can see in Avenue de Champs-Elysees of Paris.

This is Takeshita Street, a teenage shopping streets and centre of local teenage fashion and culture.

Love people watching? Here you’ve got plenty of them.

It started to rain in the afternoon and we had an equally magnificent scene to capture. Look at the umbrella sea below!

Click the above image to view in full size and be amazed by the sea of colourful umbrellas in the rain.

This is what we meant by huge crowds and people packed Golden Week of Japan! Enjoy! 🙂 – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo guide to Japan.

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.