# Shibuya in the morning - Author: Joichi Ito - Date: 2007-10-01T02:20:31Z Shibuya Center Gai I spent High School in Japan. I lived in Shibuya and went to The American School in Japan in Chofu. I grew up in Shibuya. Back then, in the early 80's, Shibuya was a hot area of Tokyo. Brands like Van Jacket, Domon, Jun, etc. and the "Shibuya Casual" or "shibukazi" scene were getting a lot of attention. Shibuya was full of bars, clubs, restaurants, clothing shops and places to just hang out on the street. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time "on the street" buying liquor from vending machines, chasing rats and going to game centers and clubs. Back then, it didn't really matter if you were underaged and the discos were packed with Jr. High School aged kids. I went to my first nightclub in 9th grade. You could buy bottles of whiskey, Suntory White, in vending machines. During summers I hung out in the fashion buildings, sometimes helping in the shops and always going out with the designers, shop staff and hair dressers after work. The Japanese bubble was just getting going and everything felt like an endless drunken party and a explosion of consumer brands and excess. Later, after I first dropped out of college, I returned to Shibuya to run an after hours club at the end of Center Gai. That's where I met Hyperdelic Video and a lot of my "crew", many of whom I still work with. I also met Keith who was running Tower Records at the time. I used to have him let me put my club flyers there. I was probably just a scrappy little kid to him then. When we first moved to Shibuya, we lived in a fancy house paid for by my mother's employer, ECD. Later, we had to move to a dumpy little two room apartment made from a converted love hotel. That's when I hung out the most with Keigo (Cornelius) who was living with his mother in the same apartment building. Walking around Shibuya at 7AM this morning brought back memories of all-nighters and the craziness of my teenage years in Tokyo. I shot some photos and uploaded the set to Flickr. --- #### Categories Japanese Culture, Joi's Diary