Un/wrapping Shibuya: The changing texture of place

TL;DRAbstract

In his ambitious portrait of fragmented Tokyo, Roman Cybriwsky (1998) describes the Shibuya district as representing the 'youth and vigour of the city, as well as its considerable material wealth and proclivity for fun'(149). Indeed Shibuya is locally, nationally, and to some degree globally renowned as a site distinguished by its trend-setting Japanese youth cultures and its opportunities for conspicuous consumption oriented around a massive agglomeration of retail outlets and range of nightlife activities such as clubs. While Shibuya is by no means unique in Japan as an example of large scale and hyper-concentrated urban consumption, it does seem to raise the bar in terms of the intensity of desire for goods and different city-based leisure activities that is expressed there. These consumption activities can be witnessed at iconic shopping sites that range from famous youth oriented department stores such as the Tokyu-owned `109' (Ichimarukyu) to the specia

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