Overview
The scramble format is not unique to Japan but this is the one that became an image of the country, helped by the screens on three sides and the density of the station behind it. The crossing works because the signal cycle is short and the crowd self-organises into lanes; standing still in the middle is the one thing that breaks it. Hachikō, the statue of the dog who waited nine years for his dead owner, is on the station side and is the city’s default meeting point.
Highlights
Watch it from above rather than only crossing it: the Starbucks in Tsutaya, the free deck at Shibuya Sky’s lower level, and the station’s second-floor walkway all look straight down on it. Come after dark, when the screens carry the light. Crossing it with a suitcase at rush hour will make you unpopular; use the underpass.