Tuesday 10 January 2017

Tokyo Night Walking: Blue Cave in Shibuya

Shibuya Terminal of the Keio-Inokashira-Line

Winter is known as the season of street illuminations. Urban streets are nicely illuminated by millions of LED lights during this period. I don't know exactly what the origin of this annual event was, but it is most likely related to the Christmas lights to attract customers to shopping malls.

This winter, I visited "Blue Cave" near Shibuya Station. The zelkova trees on the street of Yoyogi Park were decorated with 5 million blue colored LED lights. Surprisingly, the blue lights looked like they were shining on the street as well. What was the reason for that? They were not lights, but the reflection of the blue lights on the zelkova trees. In this period, special reflective sheets are placed on the street so that we can see both the real lights on the trees and the reflected lights on the street. It is fantastic and exactly like the name "Blue Cave" suggests. I saw many couples and families enjoying this translunary winter event. 

To get to the Blue Cave, I took the Keio Inokashira Line and got off at Shibuya Terminal. The Inokashira Line train arrives at Shibuya Terminal just after passing through the Shibuya Tunnel. Strangely enough, the terminal is located on the second floor of the station building. What is the reason for that? It is because the topography along to the Inokashira Line is largely undulated. The maximum difference from the ground level is about 30 m. A similar situation is also seen at the Tokyo Metro Shibuya Terminal.

"Blue Cave" near Shibuya Station