Shibuya at Night

After staying for three days and two nights in downtown Shinjuku in Tokyo for a JET conference, I can finally begin to see why people are so attracted to The City that puts New York to shame in size, pace, and the way in which it can intimidate a visitor. Tokyo is beyond massive, but after a few open-ended, destination-less rides on some shockingly clean elevated subway cars, I feel like I am beginning to piece together the different sections of the city to make a vaguely cohesive mental map of the city's innards.

One of Tokyo's hearts, an electric organ called Shibuya that is fed with bento box, coffee, and sake sales revenue, sends out a 24 hour heartbeat that rattles the surrounding train tracks with an ever flowing stream of tourists and business men and women. Shibuya screams "Tokyo!!!" at the top its lungs seven days a week (it doesn't rest on Sundays as Japan's dominant religion is Capitalism).

left: Like most major intersections in cities and towns in Japan, Shibuya Crossing affords pedestrians a nice long opportunity to cross the street by giving red lights to car traffic on each street that feeds into the crossing. Watching people cross from the second story of a Starbuck's that overlooks the crossing (the busiest Starbucks in the world for all you junkies out there) is really entertaining. For over an hour, I sat captivated by the scene. Every two minutes or so, hundreds of people cross the street--it never stops...ever...day or night, it doesn't make a difference.

left: Two vending machine customers. Japan is filled with vending machines. From vending machines in Japan, you can buy the following things:
--cigarettes for about $2.30 a pack
--large bottles of whiskey
--small bottles of whiskey
--sake
--an array of different sized beer cans
--2 litre bottles of soda or water
--hot french fries
--hot and cold coffee or soft drinks
--chicken nuggets (this last one was a rare find)

left: One of the side streets in Shibuya. The street is lined with ramen shops, small bars, restaurants, and clothing stores.











left: You know you've made it big when your face flashes on three screens simultaneously over Shibuya Crossing. Creepy creepy creepy.