Shibuya
Shibuya is one of the twenty-three city wards of Tokyo, but often refers to just the popular shopping and entertainment area around Shibuya subway station. Most of the area’s large department and fashion stores belong to either Tokyu or Seibu, two competing corporations.
It is one of Tokyo’s most colorful and busy districts, and birthplace to many of Japan’s fashion and entertainment trends. It is especially popular with young people.
A prominent landmark of Shibuya is the large intersection in front of the station called Shibuya Crossing, a heavily decorated with neon advertisements and giant video screens.
It is considered the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. A good viewing spot is the Starbucks on the second floor of the Tsutaya store.
You will find many videos showing people walking in Shibuya Crossing on YouTube – below is my short 30 second contribution taken 2 years ago.
Nearby is Shibuya 109, which is a trend setting fashion complex for young women with more than one hundred boutiques on ten floors. Usually pronounced "Shibuya ichi maru kyu", the complex’s name can also be read as "Shibuya to kyu", identifying the complex as part of the Tokyu Group.
Koen Dori is a popular shopping street leading from the Marui department store to Yoyogi Park. It was named after Parco department store (parco is Italian for park) and the fact that the street leads to Yoyogi Park.
The birthplace of many Japanese fashion trends, Center Gai is a busy pedestrian zone lined by stores, boutiques, game centers, night clubs and restaurants.
Our favorite sushi restaurant called Midori can be found on the 4th floor of Mark City in Shibuya – it is very popular with long line-ups so you need to wait between 1-1.5 hour to get a table.
The sushi is very fresh and reasonably priced. Hmm, who’s hungry …
For dessert, we like Beard Papa’s freshly made cream puffs near the subway bus stop area.
Your posts are really so informative. I plan to go to Tokyo for the first time next year. I’m surely gonna use your posts as a reference, when I plan my trip. Keep on posting
Thanks for the nice comment and have fun planning your trip to Tokyo next week – I am sure you will have a great time there.
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