I figured that since I'm in Japan I might as well do some
Johnny's related tutorials for people who plan on ever coming to Japan and want a guide on how to get their
Johnny's fix. I decided to start with something I have done, already a few times, finding the
Johnny's shop in Harajuku. I admit I got lost the first time I tried. But I think in a way it works out as I have a couple of things that I think need to be pointed out that I haven't seen covered in other tutorials about finding this bastion of
Johnny's glory.
The first thing that I think needs to be mentioned is that the shop is not very far from the main JR station exit. In fact if you don't need to get a ticket to enter you can walk there easily under five minutes if the crossing light is in your favor once you leave the station. I say this because I completely overshot the road I needed to go down because I didn't realize how close it was and it was night when I was trying to find it, so I didn't really notice the landmarks in the pictures I had seen.
The best place to start is probably the main entrance of the Harajuku JR station. (pictured above) If that isn't where you came out of, don't worry it's not hard to miss as it's on a main street and is always extremely busy.
What you want to do is cross the street from that exit, or just be on the other side of the street from it. If you are facing directly away from it, take a right towards the pedestrian overpass. (pictured above) Do NOT cross the overpass. Instead you want to stop at the corner before it and look to the left.
Just left of the overpass is an area with some greenery and is frequently used as a 'break' area for people to sit. (pictured above) From other reports this is where you will find the
Johnny's personnel that will give you a time ticket to enter the store. I have never seen anyone there and have been able to just walk into the shop. But then again I've only come to the store mainly on weekdays.
If you have good eyes then you can probably spot the
Play House sign on the left hand side of the picture of the 'break' area. If not here is a close up of the sign, so you know what to look for. Right before this store is a side street, and that's the street that you want to go down to find the
Johnny's shop.
You will know you have the right street as you will see the signs for the
Johnny's store after a few seconds of walking down it. From a distance it looks like this (sorry for the blurriness of the photo, I'll try to get a better one next time I go). And then it's only a matter of walking in to the store.
For making purchases, it's not overly difficult. For merchandise (photo books, penlights, ticket holders, etc...) you just pick it up and take it to the counter when you're ready to pay.
Photos and uchiwas are different though. You need to pick up a form (one per group, except for
Countdown and Juniors). So if you want to get photos for
NEWS,
Hey! Say! JUMP,
Kis-My-Ft2 and
Uchi, you will need one 1-800 form for
NEWS, one for 1-800
HSJ and most likey both the 1-800 form as well as the form that goes from 801 and up for
Kisumai and
Uchi, who are both under the Johnny's Jr section together. The photos are all displayed on the walls of the store and have a number on them. If you see a photo you like you find it's number on the form you have and mark down how many of that photo that you would like to buy. There is also a section for uchiwas, I haven't bought any myself, but from what I understand you just put down which uchiwa you want of the from of the section the
Johnny's member is under and the number of how many you want.
After you're done filling out your form then just wait for a cashier to be open and they will ring up your order then get your photos for you. When they have collected them all they will count them so make sure they have the correct number then go through them for you to see if they got the right ones. Then your goodies are bagged and you can walk out a happy fangirl.
Now if you happen to be directionally challenged or are afraid you will forget these directions there is no need to panic. All you have to do is remember this, outside the main Harajuku JR exit there is a map that shows you where the
Johnny's shop is. (pictured above)
See. And it even shows where you are while reading the map. Just remember that
ジャニーズ =
Johnny's and you should be set.
I hope this was helpful, and I'm always ready to answer questions. So if you need something clearified just leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer it to the best of my knowledge.
