ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the relationship between urban development, consumer culture, and lifestyles around Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s trendy neighborhoods, changed from the years following World War II through the twenty-first century and discusses how these factors combined to create a sense of reflective identity of the people of this area. It argues that much can be learned about the historical and social background of Tokyo’s spatial formation by examining the transformation of Shibuya as a part of a larger process of the modernization of urban space and popular culture and by considering the marketing of Shibuya’s retail space. Such analysis also reveals contradictions inherent in planning the diverse function of cities and how people use them. This chapter draws from the business policies of major department store companies and small local shops sustained in the backstreets and key theories of urban studies, especially those premised on fieldwork, to argue that understanding Shibuya’s space is crucial to knowing the development of Tokyo’s popular culture.
