Shibuya Crossing

Every couple of minutes the lights around Hachiko Square turn red together, every car stops, and people step off all four corners at once, diagonals included. Shibuya Crossing is often called the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Nobody has measured that against other cities, but a local shopping-street association puts it at up to 3,000 people on one green light at peak, and on a Friday evening that feels right.

Walk it at least once rather than only watching. Take the middle diagonal while the video screens on the surrounding buildings shout over each other, then turn round and do it again. Rain helps: a sea of umbrellas from above, reflections from street level. It is a public street, open around the clock, and late at night it is half empty.

For the view from above, the cheapest seat is the Starbucks filling the second floor of SHIBUYA TSUTAYA, behind floor-to-ceiling glass; the price is a drink, but the window seats go fast. The rooftop lounge at MAGNET by SHIBUYA109 (CROSSING VIEW / MAG8) costs 1,800 yen with one drink and is open 10:00 to 22:00. Shibuya Sky, the open-air roof of Shibuya Scramble Square at 229 metres, is the high and expensive option, open until 22:30 with last entry at 21:20.

The bronze dog by the station is Hachiko, an Akita who met his owner, Professor Ueno Hidesaburo, at Shibuya Station. Ueno died in May 1925 and Hachiko kept coming until his own death in March 1935. The first statue was melted down for metal in the war; the one there now dates from 1948. It is Tokyo's default meeting point, so expect a queue to photograph it.

One rule to know: since October 2024, drinking on the street around the station is banned every night from 18:00 to 05:00, all year. The JR Yamanote Line gets you here in 7 minutes from Shinjuku.