The Best Place To See Tokyo's Iconic Shibuya Crossing From Above Without Spending A Yen

When you picture Tokyo, you might imagine the gleaming lights of billboards shining down from towering skyscrapers onto crowds of people below. This iconic image, so synonymous with Japan's capital city, can be found in Tokyo's trendiest neighborhood, Shibuya. It's called Shibuya Crossing, often referred to as the "scramble." If, after seeing it in movies and TV shows, you want to experience the scramble for yourself, you should definitely go with the crowd and cross the street — but first, you should head to Shibuya Mark City Walkway and see it from above.

The crossing is a natural conjunction in the city. Its location between major shopping areas and a convenient train stop means that people would be coming through this chaotic block no matter what. Thanks to its fame, though, a lot of people come here just to experience it for themselves. At peak time, between 1,000 and 2,500 people surge across the street at once. Being in it is a unique experience, but seeing it from above is a different kind of impressive. The walkway is the perfect spot to gaze out at the sea of people. You may not be part of the crowd, but it allows you to appreciate just how many people there really are at Shibuya Crossing.

If you're planning to visit the Shibuya neighborhood at all, you'll probably come pretty close to Mark City whether you mean to or not. Trains are a very affordable way of traveling throughout Japan in general and definitely the best way to get around Tokyo like a local. Fortunately, the bustling Shibuya Station is directly connected to Shibuya Mark City. This makes its many shopping options very accessible by train, but it has another added benefit — a walkway that goes right over Shibuya Crossing. In order to find the walkway, all you have to do is follow the Shibuya Mark City signs.

In order to get to Mark City from the station, you have to walk through a kind of overpass above street level, which is lined with glass windows. When you look out, you'll have the perfect view of the scramble from above. This is a commonly used passage, but typically, the majority of the people there are using it to get across the street, not to look at the view. You can typically get a spot at one of the windows and take pictures. Best of all, it's totally free, so you can save your pocket money for picking up souvenirs in the multi-level Daiso in Shibuya Mark City.

What makes Shibuya Crossing so interesting is the way that so many people, all going to different places and crossing in different directions, seem to move in harmony as they cross the iconic street crossing. While seeing it from afar is incredible and truly lets you see the way the crowd flows, being inside is worth it for the experience. Fortunately, it's easy to run down and try it for yourself after watching from the Mark City Walkway overhead. The passage isn't particularly high, however. If you want to see it from high, high above, you'll have to go elsewhere.

Tokyo is brimming with unique attractions, like the art exhibit that encourages visitors to go barefoot, so it may seem silly at first to put so much effort into seeing a road intersection. If you get the appeal, though, you may understand wanting to see it from even higher than the walkway. Shibuya Sky has a few options as you move higher and higher up inside the skyscraper, but the most impressive might be the Sky Stage, an incredibly high rooftop observation deck that allows you to see all of Shibuya, including the famous crossing, sprawled out below you. Tickets cost less than $30, which is a bargain compared to comparable United States observation decks like New York City's open-air revolving platform, The Skylift, or One World Observatory.