Shibuya Slackline

Here we have some random people performing what is known as ‘slacklining’ on the streets near Shibuya. The exact location is actually on route to Shibuya coming from Harajuku, and these guys managed to find a suitable place to enjoy themselves. Normally, this slackline is suspended between two trees and is often higher off the ground, but these people made do with what is available to them in the city. This caught my attention because I used to slackline myself a bit back home before I came to Japan, and this was the first time I had seen it or even knew that it existed here since coming to Japan.

The goal is essentially just to balance, and that alone can seem almost impossible for someone who has never tried it before. The line flexes and sways beneath you as you attempt to balance and it requires a great amount of coordination just to keep from falling, much less perform various tricks and maneuvers as you see being done in the video clip. I was impressed with their level of skill as they were were attempting quite difficult jumps. Eventually after I stopped filming I asked if I could try, and they were happy to let me. I played around on the slackline for about 20 minutes before leaving, and have since met up with those people again to slackline more in Yoyogi Park.