ABSTRACT
Hachiko Square, located in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, is a vibrant intersection surrounded by multi-storied office buildings, department stores, hotels, apartment buildings and mixed use complexes and illuminated with competing animated billboards and large screen televisions. Like other Japanese public spaces, it is not a traditional “square” as much as it is a center of activity. Hachiko Square is more spectacle than space – a spectacle best observed in an American coffee shop’s upper level that seems to have been designed for this purpose. From this vantage point, it is easy to appreciate what is called a “Barnes Dance” crossing. In this crossing, made famous by Henry Barnes, a former traffic commissioner who did not invent but used this system in Denver, traffic signals stop vehicular traffic in all directions simultaneously. Within seconds, the entire intersection is filled with a moving crowd. Within a few minutes, however, the crowd dissipates and the vehicles once again move through the square.
