Hey folks, Dave from Nikkei Asia here. 

Here is a free excerpt from this video and infographic rich feature we published over the weekend. 

Enjoy! 

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TOKYO – From the roof of the Scramble Square tower rising from Tokyo’s Shibuya Station, the city unfolds as a pulsing valley of motion, commerce and chaos. Some 230 meters below, a sea of people surges across the iconic street crossing traversed by a transfixed Scarlett Johansson in the movie "Lost in Translation," framed by a neon blitz of advertising boards – and a raft of giant cranes building the next phase of the capital’s perpetual self-renewal.

Selfie-snapping tourists seem oblivious to the [massive overhaul](https://asia.nikkei.com/opinion/tokyo-s-modernization-must-not-endanger-unique-neighborhoods) taking place around them, a redevelopment dubbed by the developers a "once in a century” transition that they say has now entered the final stretch that will take it into its third decade.

Locals are used to it. Katsumi Morimoto, a 60-year-old advertising executive who was in Shibuya for business, grumbles that the construction has made access inconvenient, but accepts it as “[growing pains](https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/society/tokyo-s-shibuya-scrubs-away-graffiti-as-companies-lend-hand)” until “a beautiful district is born.”

The scale of the redevelopment, whose construction phase began in 2009, is staggering. Tokyu Corp., the multibillion-dollar Shibuya-headquartered conglomerate that is the lead developer alongside rail operator JR East and city subway company Tokyo Metro, has put the total investment at more than 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) – a figure that could still rise.

The project’s full completion, once targeted for March 2027, has been delayed to March 2034. It is also one of Tokyo’s [most intricate feats](https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/datawatch/tokyo-again-acts-as-a-magnet-for-corporate-japan) of urban engineering: Several train tracks and platforms have been realigned or simply relocated, lock, stock and barrel. 

>**“Shibuya was in trouble. The district had lost its spark — most of the buildings were old and shabby.”**  
Hiroshi Naito, lead architect

Critics say the project risks damaging the cultural identity of an area that has become known over recent decades as one of Tokyo’s most popular nightlife spots, bringing more [office space](https://asia.nikkei.com/business/markets/property/tokyo-office-rents-surge-as-race-for-prime-locations-heats-up) and main street brands to an area rammed with cafes, restaurants, offbeat stores and late-night bars that attract nearly two-thirds of all foreign tourists who visit Tokyo. But with comparatively [few residents](https://asia.nikkei.com/business/markets/property/tokyo-families-left-behind-as-new-condo-supply-hits-30-year-low) in such an urban area – Shibuya’s population doubles during daytime work hours – organized resistance has been rare. 

Still, the overhaul offers a microcosm of the limits on how far Japan can push large-scale urban renewal. The redevelopment is taking place in one of the few parts of the country that can sustain it, even as the longer-range prospects for the domestic economy will be hit by its [shrinking population](https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/japan-immigration/indonesia-sends-more-workers-to-japan-as-job-opportunities-at-home-dwindle), projected to drop from the current 124 million to 87 million by 2070. 

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And, here is an [instagram video on the topic](https://www.instagram.com/p/DRn2wTdDVfv/) if you want to watch more. 

Shibuya's grand makeover tests Japan's urban future