Does Thailand now have its own Shibuya crossing? Well, kinda.
Udon Thani, a major city in country’s northeast, last night unveiled the colorful new crossing — meant to mimic that in the popular Tokyo shopping district — and even staged a ceremony for locals to walk across it last night, the better for a Shibuya-level photo op.
Judging from the pics we’ve seen, they weren’t able to gather a crowd quite as massive as you’d find in Shibuya, but we’ll take it. “A” for effort.
The crossing is a project by the government’s Thai Association for Town Planning, which has a mission to, yup, develop urban areas across the country.
The crossing, dubbed “Udon Thani’s Shibuya” by the association, is located on Prajaksilapakhom Road, outside the Udon Thani train station. The opening was attended by the province’s governor, Watthana Putthichart.
The crossing is an effort to make the area more of a “walkable neighborhood.” Of course, with our motorists often running directly through red lights, some online commenters wondered aloud if the crossing is truly safe for the kind of pedestrian-heavy nightlife it envisions.
“If only Thai people’s driving behavior is as good as motorists in other countries… But at least this was still a good development,” one commenter said.
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