Shibuya Guide - Shibuya Tokyo is the trendy and fashionable shopping district of Tokyo. Our Shibuya guide covers Shibuya Hotels, Shibuya sight seeing, shopping and Shibuya restaurants.
See Also:
Shibuya Hotels
Shibuya Pictures
Shibuya Shopping
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 Hotels
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Shibuya deserves a prize as the district with more two-storey video screens than any other area in the world.
A giant TV screen above "Star Bucks" opposite Shibya Station.
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.
The crowded sidewalks of fashionable Shibuya
Getting to Shibuya
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 See in Shibuya
Hachiko
Hachiko 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.
Hachiko belonged to Professor Ueno Saburo’s, who loved Hachi a lot. Hachi always went to see the master off and wait for his return at the Shibuya station everyday even in terrible weather. After the Professor's death, Hachi continued to wait at the station for his master's return.
Statue of Hachiko - the faithful dog. Picture by Fg2
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 theatres 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 crowds of Shibuya attracts companies like Sony Ericson
to promote their latest and most fashionable products.
Museums
Tobacco 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 do in Shibuya
There are movie theatres and electronics stores nearby.
Shibuya is a major center for nightclubs, music, and dancing.
Magically shielded from decades of commercial development, Nonbei-yokochō (のんべい横丁) is a narrow alley running alongside the east side of the Yamanote tracks just north of the station. It's packed with traditional yakitori taverns as well as some modern, extremely tiny bars. The district was formed in 1955, and a few of the shops have been operating since then.
