Harajuku runs fashion at two speeds, and the walk is the gear change between them. Two and a bit kilometres downhill, from the loudest lane in Tokyo to the quietest expensive one.
Start at Harajuku station and go straight into Takeshita-dori — the teenage-fashion crush, all crepes and cotton candy and shops the size of a wardrobe. It's a -dori (avenue) in name only; really it's a 400-metre river of people. Let it carry you through, then surface at the far end and breathe.
From there the neighbourhood changes character. Cross to Tokyu Plaza for the mirrored-tunnel entrance, then slip into the Ura-Harajuku backstreets and walk Cat Street — same fashion, half the volume, no cars.
Then Omotesando itself, the architecture mile. Tadao Ando's Omotesando Hills folds a whole mall onto one spiral ramp; walk it even if you buy nothing. Out under the zelkova trees, the flagships line up to be looked at — the Prada glass bubble, Tod's lattice of concrete branches. End at the Metro, slowly. The trees do as much work as the labels.
