"Office Districts Have Zero Charm": Is Shibuya Worth It Anymore? Japanese Commenters Split by Age

What Japanese visitors said — picked from the top 200 of 341 comments

• Everywhere you go, it feels like they're aiming for a town that's too clean, all under the slogan of "redevelopment." Things get born out of chaos. A place that's too orderly has no gaps, and I think it's hard for anything new to come out of it. You need an atmosphere that's messy, with some gaps somewhere, where you can just be.

  どこもかしこも、再開発という謳い文句で、きれいすぎる街を目指している気がします。 何かが生まれてくるのは、混沌から。 整いすぎるところには、なにか隙がなく、新しいものが出てきにくいのではないでしょうか。 ごちゃごちゃして、どこか隙があり、そこにいることができる雰囲気が、必要な気がしています。

  — @sabumiko701107 likes

• Once the one-of-a-kind stuff is gone and it's all the same chain shops you'd find in any regional city, of course everyone's going to find it boring. There's almost nothing left that you can only get, or only experience, in Shibuya.

  唯一無二がなくなり、それこそ地方都市にもあるチェーン店のようなところばかりになれば誰もがつまらないと感じるでしょう 渋谷じゃなきゃ手に入らない、体験できないというものがほとんど無くなってしまった

  — @kirikiri-e5k20 likes

• On social media it seems like it's middle-aged people complaining more than young people.

  SNSだと若者より中年層が文句言ってるイメージ

  — @enele-k5c111 likes

• I'm in my early twenties and honestly it's fun. Plus it's cleaner than before and has this future-city vibe, which I like.

  20代前半だけど普通に面白いけどなあ。あと前よりも綺麗になって未来都市感あって良いわ

  — @xh5jk9bc2u12 likes

• Isn't this a bit too negative? Who's saying it's boring? (The people who were young in the '80s?) There's plenty to do besides leisure and shopping! The old Shibuya was a dirty town, with cigarette butts and flyers littered everywhere, but now it's way cleaner than back then! There's Shibuya Sky and Miyashita Park, and I think it's perfectly fun!? Aren't you just annoyed by the redevelopment?

  なんかネガティブすぎないか？だれがつまらないと言ってるの？（８０年代の若者だった人達が？） レジャーやショッピング以外にも遊ぶこと多いでしょ！ 以前の渋谷はまず、たばこやチラシのポイ捨てが多く汚い街だっけど 今は当時に比べるとはるかに綺麗になってるよ！渋谷SKYもあるし宮下パークもあり普通に楽しいと思うのだが！？ ただ再開発が気に食わないだけじゃないのか？

  — @1ue-pe9ey46 likes

• "It got boring" is a comparison with the past, so it's the verdict of the generation who were young in the '80s and '90s, not of young people today.

  つまらなくなったというのは過去と比較しての話なので、現在の若者ではなく80年代90年代に若者だった世代の評価ですよね。

  — @onething70138 likes

• It does feel like it stopped being the kind of town where culture just springs up on its own. I used to go now and then until the early 2000s, and until about then my impression was that it was still a town centered on young people. That young crowd at the cultural center grew up and drifted away, then the internet spread and more and more things could be bought without coming here, and finally COVID finished it off. Tokyu panicked at that and pushed ahead with redevelopment, and that's where we are now. Harajuku next door is kind of similar. I think there are still people around, but the momentum of the '80s to the 2000s is gone, and in the end it'll probably become an office district.

  自然発生的に文化が出てくるような街でなくなっていった感じはしますよね、じぶんも2000年代初頭あたりまではたまに行ってたけど、そのあたりまでは若年層がまだ中心の街だった印象　その文化的な中心の若年層が大人の世代になっていって離れて行ってそのうえネットが普及してここに来なくても買えるものが増えて最後のコロナでとどめの流れ　それに慌てた東急が再開発事業進めてるのが今の状態　隣の原宿も似たような感じ　人はまだいるとは思うけど80年代から00年代あたりの勢いはなくなってきて最終的にはオフィス街になるんだろうね

  — @黒猫-r3x83 likes

• It's because Tokyu put the station deep underground where it's inconvenient. Even getting out into the town is a pain. Tokyu shot itself in the foot.

  東急が不便な深部地下化したせいでしょ 街に出るのも不便、まさに東急の自滅

  — @jotavic2584 likes

• I go to Shibuya for work but there's no shop that makes me want to stop in. When I was young I'd ride the Toyoko Line from Yokohama to hang out. From the platform at Shibuya Station, the Tokyu Bunka Kaikan and the Tokyu Toyoko department store were right there. Now getting from the platform up to street level is way too much of a hassle.

  仕事で渋谷に行くけど寄っていこうと思える店がない。若者だった昔は横浜から東横線に乗って遊びに行った。渋谷駅のホームから東急文化会館も東急東横店もすぐでしたね。今はホームから地上に出るまでが大変すぎる。

  — @さくもた19 likes

• What Shibuya's always been missing, then and now, is good restaurants. Everywhere's bad and expensive.

  今も昔も渋谷に足りないのは美味しい店 どこも不味くて高い

  — @ggc03517105 likes

• I wonder what foreign tourists find fun about looking at a Shibuya that's been reduced to an office district, and a crossing that's just big. The Scramble Crossing was appealing because young people full of personality used to strut across it. Not because there's anything interesting about the crossing itself.

  外国人観光客はオフィスビル街に成り果てた渋谷とただデカいだけの横断歩道を見て何が楽しいんだろう。 スクランブル交差点が魅力的だったのは、かつてそこに個性あふれる若者たちが闊歩していたから。交差点自体になんか面白いモノがあるからではない。

  — @あああ-p3b2g30 likes

• These days the place young people's culture comes out of is Shinjuku. It used to be Shibuya. In a good way, Shibuya might have gotten safer.

  現在若者の文化発信地は新宿です。 昔は渋谷でした。 いい意味で渋谷の治安は良くなったかもです。

  — @太郎次郎キャット32 likes

• The things you wanted, the dazzling things, the things you longed for, the grimy things, it had all of it packed in. But it was more stylish than Shinjuku, you know.

  欲しいもの、眩しいもの、憧れたもの、小汚いもの、全部詰まってた でも新宿よりオシャレだったのよ

  — @terrahapis0 likes

• Shibuya was fun back when Tokyu and Seibu were competing with each other in a good way, but once the Saison Group broke up the balance collapsed, Tokyu got to do whatever it wanted, there was a rush of office buildings, and it turned into a boring town full of chain shops. I still live between Shibuya and Harajuku, but I go to Harajuku way more. In Harajuku, too, the tenant choices at Tokyu Plaza and Harakado are awful, but Ura-Harajuku still has lots of shops with character, and discovering the back alleys is fun.

  渋谷は東急と西武がいい意味で切磋琢磨していた頃は面白かったが、セゾングループが解体してバランスが崩れて、東急のやりたい放題になってからオフィスビルの建設ラッシュになり、チェーン店ばかり増えてつまらない街になった。 今でも渋谷と原宿の間に住んでいるが、原宿の方が圧倒的に行く。 原宿も東急プラザやハラカドはテナントセンスが酷いが、裏原はまだ個性的な店が多く、路地裏の発見が面白い。

  — @ganggreen-o5i89 likes

• I went to Shimokitazawa for the first time in a while and the town had changed. The people walking around were mostly young, with some families too, and it had turned into a lively town. I thought, this is like the old Shibuya...

  下北沢に久しぶりに行ったら街が変化していて、歩く人たちは若い人達を中心に家族連れもいたりして活気のある街になってました 昔の渋谷みたいだなって…

  — @Steve-il9pb79 likes

• If you want the deep side of Shibuya, it's got to be around Hyakkendana.

  渋谷でディープさを求めるなら百軒店周辺でしょ

  — @兎デラロッチャ3 likes

• Same here. It's more fun than it was for a while, right? There's MIYASHITA PARK and Oku-Shibuya, and just wandering around places like Fukuras or Hikarie is fun.

  自分もおんなじ。一時期より楽しくなってるよね。MIYASHITA PARKや奥渋谷もあるし、フクラスとかヒカリエとかブラブラするたけでも楽しいのに

  — @Flyhigh117371 likes

• SaveUra-Harajuku (Harajuku back streets)↗裏原宿Between Harajuku and Omotesando, Shibuya ward

  The pick of a commenter who lives between Shibuya and Harajuku and goes to Harajuku "way more": the back streets still have "lots of shops with character" (89 likes). The same commenter is scathing about the big new malls there.

• SaveShimokitazawa↗下北沢Setagaya ward, west of Shibuya

  "This is like the old Shibuya" (79 likes): lively, mostly young, with families too.

• SaveHyakkendana↗百軒店Up Dogenzaka, Shibuya

  "If you want the deep side of Shibuya, it's got to be around Hyakkendana" (3 likes).

• SaveOku-Shibuya↗奥渋谷Kamiyamacho / Tomigaya, past Bunkamura

  Named, with Miyashita Park, by a commenter who says Shibuya is more fun than it was for a while (1 like).

• SaveMIYASHITA PARK↗Along Meiji-dori, north of Shibuya Station

  The example younger commenters reach for when they push back on "boring" (46 likes, alongside Shibuya Sky).

• SaveShibuya Sky↗渋谷スカイShibuya Scramble Square

  Cited with Miyashita Park as proof that Shibuya is "perfectly fun" (46 likes).

Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.

Is Shibuya still worth visiting?

It depends on what you want from it. Japanese commenters who knew Shibuya in the '80s and '90s say redevelopment turned it into offices and chain shops (127 likes). Younger ones disagree: one in their early twenties calls it fun, cleaner and futuristic, and another points to Shibuya Sky and Miyashita Park (46 likes).

Why is Shibuya Station so confusing?

Much of it has been rebuilt deep underground and is still changing. "Getting from the platform up to street level is way too much of a hassle" (19 likes). Tokyu says work around the station now runs to fiscal 2034, with a new pedestrian deck over the Ginza Line station due around fiscal 2030 and a new Hachiko Square at the end.

Sources: nikkei.com · tokyu.co.jp — checked 2026-09-30

Is the Shibuya Scramble Crossing worth seeing?

Commenters are lukewarm on the crossing itself. One (30 likes) argues it was only exciting because of the young people with personality who used to cross it, and that the crossing has nothing interesting in itself. A reply says people come to shop and eat, and that even in the old days nobody called the crossing itself the draw.

Where do Japanese people go instead of Shibuya?

Shinjuku is named as where youth culture now comes from (32 likes). For the feel old Shibuya had, Shimokitazawa is called "like the old Shibuya" (79 likes) and the Ura-Harajuku back streets still have shops with character (89 likes). Within Shibuya itself, commenters point to Hyakkendana up Dogenzaka and quieter Oku-Shibuya.

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