TOKYO

Japan's capital is a megalopolis made up of distinct neighbourhoods, each with their own character. The outré trends of HARAJUKU make it a mecca for independent fashion, while the neon maze of SHINJUKU, with its countless cocktail bars, offers in-the-know revellers an unforgettable night out. Less famous but vital to Tokyo's cultural tapestry is CHIYODA CITY, home to the Imperial Palace and its landscaped gardens, and ODAIBA, a manufactured island housing hallucinogenic, futuristic museums. AKIHABARA continues to be the birthplace of technology and subcultures that go global, while in chichi GINZA, the world's best sushi awaits. Tokyo may be impossible to explore fully, but with our guide to the best 'hoods, there's plenty of fun to be had trying

- JAMIE LAFFERTY

HARAJUKU

Tokyo’s most famous district is the spiritual home of self-expression in the city, filled with quirky emporiums and indie clothing boutiques

The well-documented pressure in Japanese society to conform is sometimes summed up by the idiom ‘the nail that stands out gets hammered down.’ For a long time, Harajuku, the celebrated fashion and shopping neighbourhood in the west of Tokyo, was blissfully hammer-free. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, it became the international poster child of Japanese eccentricity, a hub of genuine counterculture where young Tokyoites spectacularly rejected the standards of so many of their peers by dressing in madly creative costumes.

Today, the commitment to bombastic fashion has lessened and the fashionistas are becoming an endangered species in their one-time stronghold. Clinging on to the petticoated Lolita styles of that era are Ai Akizuki and Hamuka (the latter, like all good eccentrics, refuses to offer her age or surname). The ladies are committed to their looks, which is to say that they dress up with Victorian-style bloomers, bonnets and parasols every day — for them this is an unending lifestyle, not just an option for events or, worse, Instagram.

“Things are definitely become more boring,” says Ai, who’s leading me on the Harajuku Kawaii Tour around the neighbourhood. “It was inevitable that things would change — that’s how fashion works.”