Still remember?…..
When D.K’s black car was chasing Sean Boswell who was speeding in his red racing car and the racing group was led by Han Lue in front who was masculine swerving in his yellow racing car. In the chase, there was a moment when three race cars were forced to pass at an intersection which full of pedestrians. The scene was so thrilling but looked absolutely fantastic from top camera. Unmistakably, that was a piece of scene in the movie “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”. And the intersection in question was known as the Shibuya Crossing.
Well, if this was a different story again…..
Have you ever watched a film based on a true story and tell of a dog named Hachi and his master Parker Wilson, played by veteran actor Richard Gere?.
Being tell In the film, Hachi was so loyal and always took Wilson to station every day to go to teach and waited for his return in front of the same station in afternoon. Such was Hachi’s daily activities. Until one day, Wilson died on campus because of a heart attack and would never see Hachi again. But because of Hachi’s loyalty, Hachi until the end of its life still waiting for its master who never again came in front of the station. This legendary dog was a true story of the origin of Hachiko Statue which was located near Shibuya Station and just a hundred meters south of Shibuya Crossing.
That afternoon the air was getting colder, slowly dropping from 4 Celsius degree, the time was 13:45 hours when I was already at the north entrance gate of Nakano Station. Not long, the Chuo-Sobu Line train arrived. In the late afternoon, passengers were still quiet, maybe it wasn’t time to go home from work. I took a seat on the left side of carriage and felt the warmth of air in the carriage. I only realized when I felt hot air gush from under the seat and hit my feet as I sat down. Apparently trains in Japan put a heating engine under the seat.
Just five minutes towards southeast, I got off the Chuo-Sobu Line to change to Yamanote Line. Now the train was moving south for four kilometers and took ten minutes and was in increasingly congested passenger conditions. Yamanote Line is the busiest train line in downtown Tokyo.
I arrived at Shibuya Station on 14:00 hours and took directions to Hachiko Exit Gate at north of station building. When I stepped out of station gate, I was immediately greeted by appearance of Hachiko Square which was already full of visitors. Some sat on each side of the plaza and most surrounded the statue of loyal beast queuing for photos. There was nothing special about the statue, maybe it was Hachiko’s life story which made the statue feel alive and became a attention center.
I enjoyed soon the crowd at Hachiko Square. Because I couldn’t wait to feel the sensation of crossing at Shibuya Crossing. I stepped a hundred meters north and started to stand at that famous five junction. I could only smile to myself when I saw the behavior of some tourists when crossing. Some took pictures in the middle of intersection, some ran and climbed a signpole to take photos from a height, and some posted vlogs as long as the green light was still on. And when a sign sound “tut-tut-tut” loudly shouting after another as a sign that traffic light would turn red, then all tourists and local pedestrians rushed to walk to road edge and briefly left a silence moment, then followed by the sound of horns and the roar of car engines which scrambling across the intersection headed in all directions.
I was who still couldn’t believe that I could be there, was infected by their acute strangeness. Since it was an intersection of five streets, it was even five times, I crossed back and forth from side to side at Shibuya Crossing. Oh my God, Was this an afternoon when made me going crazy from exposure to Tokyo life’s aroma?.