Reliving 2017 gaming memories, as a Persona 5 tourist in Tokyo. Here are the P5 Shibuya Sights I visited!
‘Right. New Year celebrations are over and done with. Back to … posting pictures from my November 2018 Japan trip.
Specifically, pictures from my 48 hours of being a Persona 5 tourist!
Needless to say, this was a big part of my stay in Tokyo, with me being a big fan of P5 and all that. Weeks of feverish planning using Google Maps also ensured a mostly smooth journey throughout, although in the end I still had to skip Inokashira Park and other minor Tokyo spots because of time limitations.
Anyway, this is how I’m going to go about this mini-series, which would consist of three posts. With the game over two years old now, I think all fans are long familiar with in-game Persona 5 locations. Thus, I will not be putting up left-and-right comparison pictures.
Instead, I’d focus on sharing the pictures I took, with a small screenshot of the corresponding P5 location in the lower right corner. As for the actual real-life sights, given there are so many in Persona 5, I’d be dividing this series into:
Yoshi! So much for explanations. Let’s go.
The usual. All game screenshots in this Persona 5 Shibuya sights post do not belong to me. They belong to the true master of Ren Amamiya.
Ikouze! From My Hotel to JR Shibuya Station
Starting with this most insipid picture of me in a JR Yamanote train, because …
I’m still in disbelief as I type this. That day, I actually found a place to sit on a Yamanote train.
A Yamanote train. The circular service notorious for being one of the most crowded, most heavily used inner-city lines in the world.
What’s more, a nice corner seat with a partition to rest my head against! (Like the seat Ren Amamiya is nestled in whenever he gets a seat on the train) And so … I napped. I SLEPT instead of eavesdropping or diligently reading a library book. My Knowledge was therefore decisively duller for a few hours thereafter …
At Shibuya Station
After arriving at Shibuya Station, it took me less than 5 minutes to find the famed Phantom Thieves meeting spot. Actually, it was just a staircase up from the (correct) platform exit. Exactly like within Persona 5.
Hachikō-mae Square
After geeking over the meeting spot for around ten minutes, I made my way down to the Hachikō-mae Square. At this point, I had my wireless headphones on and was looping Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There at top volume. (The version I recorded myself) I confess I got a bit giddy as I drank in all the famous Shibuya Station sights and attractions replicated in P5. Hmm, actually, I believe my eyes got a little wet.
Update Aug 5, 2020: Oh no! The tram was relocated to Akita Prefecture on Aug 3, 2020!!! This means P5, even P5 Royal, is now … slightly inaccurate in its depiction of Shibuya Station Square?!?!
Shibuya Center Gai
Done with the Hachikō-mae Square, I scrambled over the famous Shibuya Scramble crossing to Shibuya Center Gai and investigated the:
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ShibuChika Shopping Road i.e. the Underground Mall in P5
As is probably quite well-known now, while there are representative similarities, the actual Shibuya Center Gai is still quite different from the version in the game. For example, there’s no crepe shop. The cinema is much further away and there’s certainly no shady weapons shop in an alley!
Musing over these differences, I slowly made my way back into the massive underground segment of Shibuya Station. First thing I strolled into was the basement shopping street, or ShibuChika Shopping Road, or as is known in the game, the Shibuya Station Underground Mall. I have to say that while this Shibuya Station attraction wasn’t exactly dull, the version in Persona 5 was definitely more atmospheric.
Shibuya Station Underground
Exiting the shopping road, I soon found this spot.
And a moment’s crawl away:
While slurping, I came across this. The arubaito stand.
That’s all for Persona 5 real-life Shibuya Sights post! In my next post, I’d be sharing pictures from Ren Amamiya’s homeground i.e. Yongenjaya. Known in real-life as Sangenjaya.
(Check out my visit to Osaka’s Persona 5: The Animation Cafe too!)
Read my other Video Game Tourist posts.
