Tokyo streets, from Shibuya to Skytree

Tokyo is too large to sum up in a few frames, so this gallery picks two landmarks and the ordinary streets around them.

Tokyo Skytree, opened in 2012, is a broadcasting and observation tower 634 metres tall, the tallest tower in the world. In the first photograph it is framed by cherry blossoms, a classic spring combination: soft pink in the foreground, a thin white lattice rising behind.

The Shibuya scramble crossing, outside Shibuya Station, is famous for the moment when all the traffic lights turn red together and pedestrians cross from every direction at once. Photographed from above or at street level, it has become one of the defining images of the city.

The last two frames are quieter. One looks straight down into a narrow street squeezed between buildings, where the city's density becomes a pattern of rooftops, wires and signs. The other catches commuters crossing in low, sunlit morning light. Much of Tokyo's character is in these in-between places rather than its landmarks.

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Photos: phgvu307, mailtotobi, r-q, marcellinusjerricho on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.