Harajuku: fashion at two speeds
Takeshita-dori at full teenage volume, then Omotesando's architecture mile under the trees. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Takeshita-dori
The teenage-fashion lane, a *-dori* (avenue) that's really a 400-metre crush of crepe stalls, sock shops and purple cotton candy. Go in, let it carry you, come out the far end. Loud is the point.

2. Tokyu Plaza Omotesando
The corner building with the kaleidoscope entrance — a tunnel of angled mirrors at street level. Ride the escalator up through it; there's a rooftop terrace at the top if you want to sit down.

3. Cat Street & Ura-Harajuku
Duck off the main avenue into the backstreets — *Ura-Harajuku* (the Harajuku behind). Cat Street is the spine: low buildings, streetwear, no cars. The opposite of Takeshita-dori, same neighbourhood.

4. Omotesando Hills
Tadao Ando's 2006 mall, built long and low along the avenue's slope — inside, a single spiral ramp does the work of a staircase. You don't have to shop; walk the ramp from top to bottom and back out.

5. The zelkova avenue & the flagships
Omotesando proper: a wide boulevard under zelkova trees, lined with the architecture-as-shopfront set. Herzog & de Meuron's glass-bubble Prada and Toyo Ito's Tod's are the two to look up at. The trees are the show as much as the buildings.

6. Omotesando station
The avenue runs down to the crossing at Aoyama-dori, and the Metro is right there (Ginza, Hanzomon, Chiyoda lines). End with a coffee in the side streets first if your legs allow.

Harajuku: fashion at two speeds