So I have been inspired (by Mike D’s Friday Cat Blogging) to add a regular weekly post to my blog.

I shall call it ‘Sunday School’. Why, you ask? Because every Sunday I will attempt to tackle something I wonder about, I don’t know about, or think I know but really don’t, all in an effort to educate myself (and hopefully you as well) on the more random things in life.

My inaugural post: What the hell is a Harajuku girl?

I love Gwen Stefani’s new CD “Love, Angel, Music, Baby.” But as I sit here listening to it I start to wonder…just who are these mysterious Harajuku Girls Gwen is singing to me about?

Gwen says these girls have “wicked style” with “wild hair color and cell phones.” And apparently they do their shopping in “underground malls.”

What does it all mean?

Well, according to Wikipedia:

Harajuku (原宿) is the common name for the area around Harajuku Station on the Yamanote Line in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is primarily known as a hangout for teens and contains the department store Laforet, which has many trend-leading brands for young people.

Harajuku became famous in the 1990s due to the large numbers of street performers and wildly dressed teens who gathered there on Sunday when the streets were closed to traffic. This was stopped at the end of the 90s and the number of performers, visual kei fans, rockabilly dancers and punks has steadily decreased since.

Under Gwen’s entry in Wiki it also says that

The release of her solo album has also brought attention to Stefani’s entourage of four harajuku girls. Named Love, Angel, Music, and Baby respectively by Stefani, the ‘harajuku’ girls are named for the area around the Harajuku Station of Tokyo, Japan, known as a popular shopping destination and fashion center for teenagers..

Interesting…but I want pictures!
For your edification and mine, these are what Harajuku girls looks like:

slash Madonna Circa 1982 slash Spoiled Faux Nazi.

So my question to you is - if you had to name four of your very own Harajuku Girls, what would their names be?

I hope you have enjoyed Sunday School. Come back next week!