I was there for almost four hours and I only saw one gothic lolita, and even she was, technically, sweet. I’m either hanging out in the wrong place or the place I was hanging out has changed quite a bit.

Early in this millennium my job used to take me to Shibuya quite frequently. Shibuya is an odd intersection of youth culture, fashion, restaurants and sleeze that somehow manages to feel like a college town. One of its most gawked at features is the Shibuya Scramble when countless thousands of people cross intersection at Shibuya Crossing.

Among those people at the crossing used to be droves of young people dressed in various costumes, including rival gangs of lolitas. There were also the Gyaru (or Gals) who pushed fashion to remarkable extremes. This made Shibuya one of the most visually interesting places in Japan to people watch. Today, though, well.

I was there because it was my mission to escort our oldest to Shibuya and drop her off at a short concert. It was then my job to wait a couple hours until the concert was finished and then escort her back home. (Without a specific mission, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for me to be in Shibuya.)

While I was waiting I took the time to walk around and people watch and to enjoy a meal at the newly opened Taco Bell. The Taco Bell food was pricey but good (the spicy fries are to kill for; yes, I know I’m supposed to be on a low carb diet, so what? I’ll still kill you for your spicy fries.) but the people were kind of bland. There was lots of black and brown and gray and I suddenly felt out of place in my red sweatshirt. In the old days, a red sweatshirt would have seemed boring.

I ended up in one of my old haunts, the maze-like Tokyu Hands main building and walked off the tacos and the burrito by taking the stairs up to the stationery sections. I ended up buying a couple notebooks, one of which may become my next food and exercise journal.

I then went back to retrieve our oldest. While I was waiting, a young woman dressed in a Sweet Lolita costume walked in. I thought, finally, this is Shibuya, but then I found our oldest and it was time to go home.