Shibuya Hikarie – Shibuya’s Newest Building

Shibuya Hikarie (渋谷ヒカリエ) is the latest of all the new commercial buildings popping up like mushrooms all over Tokyo at the moment. Just days after the new building in Omotesando/Harajuku we have the opening ceremony of Shibuya Hikarie. When I got there it was already packed with people and I could hardly find an empty spot to shoot from so please forgive me for the boring snapshots in this post. I’ll have to go back and get some more of the interiors as well as some night time exteriors! The building is 182.5 meters tall and has 34 floors, most of them commercial or office.

Nonbei Yokocho – Shibuya Bar Street

Totally hidden behind a couple of tall buildings on the side of Shibuya station, near the street that leads up to Omotesando, there’s a couple of streets called Nonbei Yokocho (のんべい横丁). “Nonbei” (or nonbe) is a slang expression from the Edo period (1603-1868) meaning drunkard or person who loves drinking, so it’s a pretty fitting name for these two streets of tiny little bars and eateries. Weekend nights like this almost every bar is packed, even though this means there’s only 5-10 persons inside. Japanese really love these tiny bars! Like Shinjuku’s Golden Gai or Omoide Yokocho the average age of the patrons is relatively high. This must be a nice place to be a regular! Trying to read up a little on the subject I found this blog with a few interesting drawings of scenes from this street.

Coming of Age Day in Shibuya

As a continuation on yesterday’s post, here’s a few more kimono beauties that I managed to snap while walking through Shibuya. Not all of them dress up just to visit the shrines, quite a few spend their time hanging out with friends just like they normally do, just much more well dressed! I can’t get enough of them! Unfortunately I only saw one guy in kimono this year, he looked fantastic. I wish I had had my camera ready for him! I still have hundreds of pictures unpublished from last year’s coming of age day though. Will go over some of them in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Kamiyama Mutsumikai – 神山睦会

Community spirit in action! In Japan people take their community seriously and almost every neighborhood has a community center or association that works together with the local merchants and shrines as well as the local government to create a good place to live. The most visible aspect of this community work are the local festivals, and here’s some photos of a large neighborhood group taking part in the Shibuya Festival earlier this summer. They come from Kamiyama town (神山町), a 2.4 square kilometer area in central Shibuya with a population of 2180. Forming up by the local shrine they proceed to carry the portable shrine around the streets of their area while chanting, singing, and as you can see in one of the photos even dancing! I don’t think I have ever seen dancing in this kind of festival before. The group organizing the participants is called Kamiyama Mutsumikai (神山睦会) and they are really well prepared with even more flair than most neighborhood groups. Taking part in these festivals is really a major event for many people, from the smallest kids to the oldest residents. I think this kind of strong community bonds is one of the major reasons behind Japan’s prosperity and incredibly low crime rates. I’ll post more photos from the Shibuya Festival and of this group later on. For now, please enjoy!