The famous Shibuya Crossing !
Rather than direct the flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic simultaneously, the Shibuya Crossing halts all cars and signals multidirectional foot traffic to cross every 80 seconds, giving the intersection its nickname, “the Shibuya scramble.” It is estimated that between one and three thousand people crowd the crossing on an average signal change, and anywhere from a quarter to a half million people make the run every day. Whatever the actual numbers, Shibuya Crossing is generally accepted as the world’s busiest intersection.
Massive video screens flashing advertisements tower above every corner as black-suited salarymen, wide-eyed tourists, and bag-toting shoppers wait and cross in concert. The feeling is oddly soothing, a reminder that whatever our disparate paths in life, they all have a tendency to cross at one time or another.
Most people passing through the scramble are either going to or coming from Shibuya Station, the second busiest train station in the world. When making the crossing yourself it is hard to grasp the scale of the exchange of so many bodies from one corner to another, but watching from the station’s pedestrian sky bridge on the intersection’s southern edge of the second story Starbucks on the northern corner can be hypnotic.
▪️Tips
Anyone remotely impressed that Tokyo is the most populated city in the world should visit Shibuya Crossing. The best time to go is at dusk, one of the scramble’s peak times and in its most flattering light. The recently opened Shibuya Scramble Square tower above Shibuya station offers a birds’ eye view of the famous crossing, along with panoramic vistas of the city from the Shibuya Sky rooftop observatory, perched 230 meters above street level.
