Why it stays with you
A street that bills itself as a source of pop culture. What young Japan is into spills straight onto the pavement. People come from all over the world — a small, dense, strange space, and the interest is that you can see another face of Tokyo along a single street. Come out of the Takeshita exit of Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote Line and it's right in front of you, so there's nothing to hunt for. Between 11:00 and 18:00 it's pedestrian-only with no cars, so that's the window for walking it. It's narrow and crowded, so rather than being swept from one end to the other, it's better to walk up and back, stopping at whatever shops catch you.