Introduction

You could walk past this section of sidewalk a million times and not think about it once. It’s a 15-foot patch of concrete the same as the 15 feet ahead of you and the 15 feet behind you. No different than the 100 feet beyond that. It’s nothing.

Until you look around, then, all of a sudden, you can see through time.

This article includes map coordinates for most of the major landmarks we visited. Click the hyperlinks to get a street-view look at our path through Shibuya

I’m standing in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan, which, if it’s famous for anything, is its crosswalk, Shibuya Crossing, a massive scramble intersection allowing foot traffic to cross in all directions. For lack of a better analogy, you could call it Japan’s Times Square. You’ve seen it in everything about modern Japan ever.

Shibuya Crossing (35°39’34.7”N 139°42’02.1”E) feels like the future. Hundreds of people – maybe thousands, depending on the time of day – all walk at once while massive, animated billboards blast light and sound in every direction. Skyscrapers dominate the skyline – some no more than just a few years old, and plenty more being built all around. One of the world’s nicest, cleanest, and most modern subway systems takes millions of passengers to and from each day. Every single amenity, convenience, or vice you could want is no more than a few feet away at all…