Crowded Intersection In Tokyo Makes Pedestrians Resemble Working Ants

Tokyo is a mega-metropolis with about 9 million people and it is a blend ancient, contemporary and advanced. It is a city of contradictions, many epochs mixed in one. A lot of skyscrapers, crowded trains, cutting-edge architecture and futuristic technology. When it comes to travel, transport and traffic, millions of people spill on a daily basis on the motorways creating the busiest traffic ever.

This is 'Scramble Crossing' in the Shibuya district of Tokyo and is the most packed intersection in terms of pedestrian traffic, as it can fit as many as 2,500 pedestrians with each rush-hour traffic signal change. Buses, cars and motorbikes frequent this intersection rushing one after another, swiftly and in a never-ending line. As the traffic goes by, thousands of pedestrians are nestled on the sidewalks waiting impatiently for the switch of lights. The street is littered with zebra crossings and speed lanes in a so chaotic manner.

It looks like one huge field of irregular shape and size where everybody has to follow the rules in a same fashion. As the light changes for the pedestrians, they pour into the streets, some of them going straight, cyclist crisscrossing the paths of the others, lots of them running, and some just do not care, their walking is so relaxed, like they took a stroll in the nearest park. One may think that this hectic crowd will never stop moving only up until the next red light. Cars kick in and new torrent of pedestrians waits restlessly to cross the junction.