ABSTRACT
Japan is surreal. When we travel to Japan, no matter how much we try to empty ourselves of preconceptions about what the country is like, we will carry with us a range of images that we expect to see. Many of these images will be the ones that you listed during Exercise 1.1. Perhaps you listed things of natural beauty, such as Mount Fuji, which we will discuss in Chapter 4, or temples and shrines, which we will discuss in Chapter 5. But it is also probable that you have selected images that reflect Japan’s urban culture, its bustling way of life and even its use of technology. But while for Exercise 1.1 you were able to list these many different images of Japan, there are times when only a single image can be used. When the director of a film or television programme makes a programme and they need to select an image or scene that can effectively replace the words ‘Tōkyō, Japan’ on screen or use of a map, they usually do not have the luxury of being able to select multiple images, but need to select one. One of those that has become pervasive is Shibuya’s scramble crossing, whereby all the pedestrian lights go green at the same time, allowing for crossing in every direction (see Figure 2.1). In this chapter, we will effectively start by travelling to Shibuya and consider what we can learn about Japan through what we can see in the image of that famous crossing and the area around it.
