Cycling the Shibuya Scramble

JR渋谷駅前でサイクリング

This is not for the faint of heart.

Shibuya, Tokyo's teeming downtown fashion center, is famed for among other things its Scramble.

The Shibuya Scramble is the intersection in front of JR Shibuya Station.

It is, in the words of the Los Angeles Times, a "...10-lane traffic interchange...flooded at rush hour by 2,500 pedestrians, and then completely emptied, with each change of a traffic signal."

With each change of traffic lights, in turn cars or humans flood the intersection, for roughly a minute. Then, the light changes again, and it is the other's opportunity.

And it works. There is little jostling, little aggravation, little aggression. People just move through the intersection.

What is relatively new to the mix is bicycles. Bikes have been around Tokyo - and Shibuya - for a hundred years or more. However, the volume of cyclists has increased dramatically in recent years.

We were on hand on a Sunday morning, and traffic was still light.

It would be hard to imagine getting through the intersection in one piece during rush hour.

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More Views of Shibuya Cycling

渋谷サイクリング

Ah, the views to be had in Shibuya.

From a beautiful young thing on her pale blue rod to a cross bike with fat-boy tires tied to a pole in front of McDonalds.

It is a center of cycling culture in Tokyo, thus making it one of Asia's top places to watch the scene.

In terms of actual getting on a bike and riding, we are still a bit put off by the volume: of people, of cars, of noise.

Coming from the provinces, (i.e., Kyoto), we were overwhelmed and amazed by the number of helmet-less riders. (No cool helmets in Tokyo?)


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Cycling Shibuya Tokyo

東京渋谷自転車

Shibuya is amazing.

Even on a quiet Sunday morning in late spring, it crackled with energy.

And the people watching was stellar.

The population density in Shibuya is intense, and per capita number of hipsters - many of them on interesting bicycles - must rival certain areas of Brooklyn.

The biking scene in Tokyo is in many respects not that different from Kyoto: lots of mama chari all purpose neighborhood shopping vehicles that only get a tune up when they are about to fall apart.

However, once inside trendier burgs - Omotesando, Shibuya, Daikanyama - and the bikes and the people change dramatically.

Lots of hats, lots of fixies, lots of brands we should probably recognize but do not.

The legendary Shibuya Scramble - the intersection in front of JR Shibuya Station into which pedestrians, bikes, and cars pour in from multiple directions - would be a source of tension in the US. In Tokyo, it just works.

Even bicycles salmoning their way through the crowds caused no stares, glares, or aggravation.


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Cycling Shibuya?

東京渋谷で自転車を乗る？

From a Kyoto perspective what is striking about this photo of Shibuya - Tokyo's uber fashion mecca - is not the buildings. Plenty of those in Kyoto.

It is not the crowds. Kyoto's 1.5 million people can jostle with the best of them, and population density in the ancient capital is heavy because of narrow streets.

And it is not the tacky signs and general delicious messiness of the streetscape. Kyoto has both in spades.

It is, rather, the absence of bicycles.

The picture was, full disclosure, taken almost three years ago on a Sunday morning stroll not far from Shibuya Station.

Things may have changed.

However, there is not even a bike parked in front of one of the shops.

Is there any comparable area of Kyoto without one single bike?

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