Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko
渋谷スクランブル交差点とハチ公 しぶやすくらんぶるこうさてんとはちこう
Three thousand people per green light, a bronze dog who waited ten years, and the best free view from the station's upper floors.
EssentialModern · Photogenic · Free · Late night
The crossing outside Shibuya station's Hachiko exit stops traffic in all directions at once and releases pedestrians from five corners; at rush hour or on a Saturday night it is the most photographed intersection on earth. Hachiko, the Akita who came to the station every day for ten years after his master died in 1925, has a statue beside it and a story every Japanese child knows. The classic viewpoint is the window of the coffee shop on the second floor of the Tsutaya building; the free one is the Shibuya Sky ticket gate area or the connecting bridges of the station's upper floors; the paid one, Shibuya Sky, is 230 metres up.
Don't miss
- Crossing it yourself, diagonally, at a Friday 6 pm green
- The view from above, timed to the light change
- Hachiko's statue in the morning, before the meeting crowds gather
- Tip
- The Mark City walkway between the JR and Keio stations gives the elevated view free, with a glass wall and no queue.
- Best time
- Weekday evening rush, or Saturday night after rain when the crossing reflects the screens.
- Allow
- 30 min
- Station
- Shibuya (JR / Ginza / Hanzomon / Fukutoshin lines, Tokyu, Keio), Hachiko exit
- Official site — hours, prices, closures
- www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp · Map
Appears in
In this area: Shibuya
Shibuya Sky渋谷スカイ
An open rooftop at 230 metres, with the crossing directly below and Fuji, the Tower and the Skytree around the horizon.
75 min · Shibuya, direct from the station's east side
Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleysのんべい横丁と渋谷の路地
"Drunkard's Alley" — forty bars of five seats each under the railway, unchanged since 1950, a minute from the crossing.
90 min · Shibuya (JR), Hachiko exit, 2 minutes along the tracks
Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage宇田川町のレコード店と渋谷の古着
The densest square kilometre of record shops in the world — jazz, city pop, hip-hop, each on its own floor.
120 min · Shibuya, Hachiko exit, 5 minutes uphill past Tower Records