一円九！109!

Ah, the iconic 109 (ichi-maru-kyuu) building in Shibuya, mecca of the ギャル (gyaru or "gal") culture in Tokyo. This was one of the top items on my list of things to see while in Tokyo, but due to my traveling schedule, it had to wait 9 days into my trip. I wanted to devote as much time as possible to Shibuya and all its wonder. At 109, you'll find an ecclectic array of clothing, accessory and shoe stores along with cafes and nail salons.

Some of you might not be totally unfamiliar with 109. If you played "The World Ends With You" for the DS. You might recognize it as the "104" building in the game. And yes, the game is laid out almost exactly like the real Shibuya - building fascades and all. I was pleasantly surprised and able to (sadly) navigate my way through all the streets without any problems because of it.

I stood at the entrance for a moment to let the fact that I was standing at the portal of all things cute and trendy sink in. Once inside, we decided to go to the B2 floor and work our way all the way to the top. It's 10 floors consisting of about 12 stores apiece - a daunting task I was more than willing to take on. A complete list of stores can be found here.

I can't do much in the way of purchasing clothing for myself because Japanese sizes are a lot like binary: 0's and 1's only. But I did manage to find a lot of cute accessories at very reasonable prices.

Only 20 more days until I can go back and I promise to do a very thorough sweep of each floor grabbing as many photos and notes as I can for those interested in going.