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Comment by olingern | Hacker News Reader

If you live in Tokyo, you know that the statue of Hachiko-san is the default meeting place / hang out spot for many Tokyoites in Shibuya

I don't think there's any conscious symbolism around it today, but I wonder if the trend of waiting there started off as an ode to Hachiko's loyalty and extending that to a friend you're meeting.

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You're reading too much into it. If you're a Japanese girl, you meet at Hachiko because it's right outside the main exit to the JR Shibuya station and across the street from the Starbucks and the all-important Shibuya 109 shopping center. If you're in Shinjuku, you meet in front of the giant Studio Alta sign which is opposite the JR Shinjuku East Exit. If you're meeting somewhere else, you have to decide which station exit to meet at. Since I'm a nerd, I usually arrange to meet people at whatever Bic Camera store adjoins the station.

> If you live in Tokyo, you know that the statue of Hachiko-san is the default meeting place / hang out spot for many Tokyoites in Shibuya

Woah, really? This was a plot point in a videogame I played in highschool, The World Ends With You. I thought it was just made-up flavor for the game.

I suspect that any cute statue right outside of a major transit station would quickly become a de facto meeting point...

Typically it's so crowded that it's impossible to find who you're meeting. So, I don't understand why people typically meet there other than tradition

It's not a tradition. People meet there because it's a spot everyone knows, right outside the station, with a ton of signs telling you where it is. If not Hachiko people usually say "let's meet at the green train" which is another thing right next to the Hachiko statue and has no history about loyalty attached to it whatsoever.

Except Hachiko exit is nearly impossible to find because Shibuya station is so labyrinthine. Once I followed the signs to it and ended up in a large hall with signs pointing in 4 directions, neither of which mentioning Hachiko exit.

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