Tokyo Shibuya

Shibuya is a shopping and eating district popular with a lot of young Tokyoites. It’s within walking distance from two other large shopping districts - Omotesando and Harajuku - as well as being quite close to Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Jingu shrine. Shibuya deserves a prize as the district with more two-storey televisions than any other area in the world. Most of the action in Shibuya is in the hectic blocks to the northwest of the JR station. The best place to get oriented is the Hachiko exit, which opens onto the six-way “scramble crossing” under the giant television screen. From left to right at the edges of the square are… Keio Inokashira line station Dogenzaka slope, 109 building Bunkamura-dori (street) Center-gai (street) Q-FRONT building featuring a large Starbucks Koen-dori (street) Inokashira-dori, branching to the left after the Seibu Department Store 109-2 building JR line tracks to Harajuku. The area to the south of the station is bounded by a highway, so there’s not much more than bus terminals (on both sides) and the Tokyu Plaza department store. The two major roads heading east from the station continue to Aoyama and Roppongi. Getting there By train Shibuya’s station is a notoriously convoluted web of passageways. Follow the signage and you should find your way out (or in). JR Yamanote, Saikyo Line Tokyu Toyoko, Den-en-toshi Line Keio Inokashira Line Tokyo Metro Ginza Line (G01), Hanzomon Line (Z01) What to SeeHachiko is a famous statue of a dog who possessed legendary loyalty to his owner. It is also the name of one of the many exits from Shibuya Station and the prime meeting place before a night out. Just hanging out near Hachiko for a while will give you some great people-watching opportunities.   Center Gai, the narrow street leading away from the station to the left of the giant video screen, is famous as the birthplace of many of Japan’s youth fashion trends. Center Gai is jam-packed with clothing stores, music stores, and video game arcades. The Bunkamura complex (Bunkamura-dori) has an excellent art museum, in addition to theaters for film and stage plays. On the basement floor there’s art and design bookstore as well as a branch of Paris’ famous Les Deux Magots café. The fashion of the kids is quite interesting. Look for the 109 Building to find the center of what is cool. MuseumsTobacco and Salt Museum, Jinnan 1-1 6-8 (on Koen-dori). This peculiar institution owes its existence to Japan’s peculiar government monopoly on these two substances. Temporarily closed from September 2004. http://www.jti.co.jp/Culture/museum/Welcome.html What to doThere are movie theaters and electronics stores nearby. ShoppingThe main branch of the Tokyu Hands department store, specializing in all sorts of home decorations and D.I.Y. gear (with a heavy emphasis on the all sorts, this place is much more interesting than it sounds!), can be found toward the end of Center-gai. Book First (Bunkamura-dori) is one of Tokyo’s largest bookstores and carries a good range of foreign language magazines, add to a huge array of venues to eat and drink. Music lovers will wish to check out HMV and Tower Records (for a while the largest record store in the world) on Koen-dori, but expect some sticker shock as Japanese CDs often clock in at ¥3000+; imports are usually cheaper! Good shopping for second-hand music is to be had at RECOFan (numerous outlets) and Disk Union (Center-gai) along with many other specialty music stores. (Article from/based on Wikitravel article and may be copied freely) |