Shibuya Crossing

When the lights turn red in every direction at once, the traffic stops and a flood of people surges off all the corners, hundreds crossing at the same moment, weaving through one another beneath towering screens and neon. This is Shibuya Crossing, perhaps the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world and a symbol of modern Tokyo.

It is a scramble crossing, where all the traffic halts together and pedestrians cross in every direction, including diagonally, at once. With each light change a fresh crowd pours across, and on a busy evening the numbers are astonishing, a tide that forms and clears in under a minute.

The crossing sits outside one of the city's great railway hubs, ringed by department stores, screens, and advertising that blaze day and night. The wall of giant video screens overhead, bright even at noon, is part of what makes the scene so striking.

By the station stands a small bronze statue of a dog, Hachiko, famous for waiting years at the station for his owner who had died. It is the city's best-known meeting point, and the patient dog has become a symbol of loyalty known across the country.

Crossing with the crowd, swept along in the surge, is the thing to do at least once. There is an odd thrill in being one of hundreds moving at once, and somehow almost no one collides, a small daily lesson in unspoken order.

The crossing is as good to watch as to join. Cafes and viewing decks overlooking it let you see the patterns from above, the crowds gathering at the edges and then flooding across, a sight that has appeared in countless films.

It runs all day, but it is at its most dramatic after dark, when the screens and neon are at full strength and the evening crowds peak. Rain adds umbrellas and reflections, which many photographers prize above a clear night.

Shibuya around it is a centre of youth culture, fashion, and nightlife, a dense grid of shops, restaurants, music venues, and bars climbing the surrounding streets. The crossing is the gateway to all of it.

The combination of the screens, the jingles from shops, the announcements, and the sheer press of people makes the crossing an assault on the senses in the best way, a concentrated dose of the energy of the city.

Treat it as a place to feel the city rather than a sight to tick off. Cross it, then watch it from above with a drink, then wander into the surrounding streets, and you will have taken the pulse of modern Tokyo.

A few practical notes. It is free and always open; the nearby station is a maze, so use the exit named for the dog statue to find the crossing easily. Keep moving while crossing and step aside to take photos rather than stopping in the flow.

Stand at the edge for one light change and just watch the crowd gather and then surge across, hundreds of separate lives crossing paths for a few seconds, then gone. Few places capture the scale and order of a great city so simply. When you slip into a side street, the roar of the crossing fades at once.