Shibuya Center-gai

Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa


Shibuya's main drag is closed to cars and chock-a-block with fast-food joints and high-street fashion shops. At night, lit bright as day, with a dozen competing soundtracks (coming from who knows where), wares spilling onto the streets and strutting teens, it feels like a block party – or Tokyo's version of a classic Asian night market.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa attractions

1. Spain-zaka

0.07 MILES

This narrow, winding brick lane is a classic example of Tokyo-style bricolage with a mismatch of architectural styles, cutesy clothing stores and a…

2. Shibuya Crossing

0.09 MILES

Rumoured to be the busiest intersection in the world (and definitely in Japan), Shibuya Crossing is like a giant beating heart, sending people in all…

3. Mag's Park

0.1 MILES

The rooftop of the Magnet by Shibuya 109 department store has the best views over Shibuya's famous scramble crossing. It's screened with plexiglass, so…

4. Hachikō Statue

0.11 MILES

Every evening, Akita dog Hachikō would go to Shibuya Station to greet his companion. It's a practice he kept up everyday for 10 years after the professor…

5. Fukutoshin Shibuya Station

0.18 MILES

Deep underground, Tadao Ando's design for the Shibuya terminus of the city's newest subway line, the Fukutoshin Line, resembles a concrete space ship, or…

6. Bunkamura

0.2 MILES

Meaning ‘culture village’, Bunkamura has a theatre, concert hall, cinema and museum. Offerings swing between commercial and artsy; the Tokyo Philharmonic…

7. Dōgenzaka

0.2 MILES

Dōgenzaka, named for a 13th-century highway robber, is a maze of narrow streets. Home to one of Tokyo's largest clusters of love hotels (hotels for…

8. Myth of Tomorrow

0.2 MILES

Okamoto Tarō's mural, Myth of Tomorrow (1967), was commissioned by a Mexican luxury hotel but went missing two years later. It finally turned up in 2003…