Also, that map seems incomplete by at least a 3rd. The connection between it and Shinjuku-3-chome station is missing (the hallways just arbitrarily stop on that map) and the tunnels from there to the south entrance of Shinjuku station are missing as well as 3 more train platforms. I suppose you could argue that's a different station which is fine, but the fact that tunnels don't end where they appear to on this map is misleading.
Travelled through there every day for years but maybe I missed a hallway.
Turns out is was the opposite since the whole game takes place in a single hallway. It was still a lot of fun though!
I think this is more of a schematic in the sense that the vertical dimension is not to scale; the levels are farther apart than actually, which exaggerates the slopes. Also, some of the passages may be indicating elevators with opposite exits. I see one which has two rectangular prisms that are directly above each other, but connected by a slanted line which may be indicating that pedestrians enter/exit on one side of the elevator at the vestibule level, and the opposite level at the platform level.
It would be cool for there to be a slider which controls the vertical scaling. Similar to how that guy did the mechanical watch animation where you can control how exploded the view is, from fully integrated to widely spread.
I've been in Tokyo and Ikebukuro at busy times, but nothing has been like Shinjuku to me. Maybe it's the escalators and a certain ordered-but-relentless ant-army mentality getting to the platforms.
I consider myself someone with a good sense of direction in big buildings, malls, hospitals, etc., maybe a side effect to playing video games and such, but it's rare for me to get lost in big, complex structures.
But man, Shinjuku humbled me badly. That thing is a Metroidvania level IRL. If you ever go there, please don't buy a ticket with only 5 minutes to get to the right platform. Give yourself at least 15 minutes or more.
It's an awesome place, but even with signs in English, it can be easy to get lost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_railway_statio...
While the Gaussian splat is impressive, I kinda still dig the wireframe…
If you take the gross area of Shinjuku, including its multiple maze-like levels, it is comparable to the size of city centers of Florence or Bologna.
Instead, familiarize yourself with the general layout. There's no need to memorize the entire map, only the portion you will be using. Inside the station there are plenty of signs overhead and even on the floor to help navigate.
It felt like the biggest station we knew before, multiplied by 10 and then molded and warped like a ball of dough.
IIRC there is a multi-level bus terminal at this station too that we had to use to get to Narita airport, which we had never seen before for a bus terminal.
Would love to go to Japan again, but when the kids are a bit older and we don't have to fear loosing them in this station.
But you could do it in Quake.
Train station, Japan: :D:D:D <3
Train station, Japan: :D :D :D <3
Transit infrastructure is really cool
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A labyrinthine Shinjuku would still be way cooler. Shibuya station doesn't have quite the same disorienting featureless repetition to it, but offers a more overwhelming MC Escher-like experience where you can often SEE exactly where you want to go in the near-distance, but every path and every turn brings you into a completely different space, and rarely any closer to your destination.
That reminds me of one of my favourite games of all time, Knossu [1]. It's a short game from the peak of the indie era, written by Jonathan Whiting (whose post "Why I write games in C" made the rounds a few times here [2]). It's not anything like a train station, but it's non-Euclidean, labyrinthine, and surreal. My favourite part is that despite it being extremely simple (WASD only), and despite having beat it, I still don't really understand the core mechanic. It feels like a dream.
Actually, hell, that reminder reminds me of another similar looking game, LSD: Dream Emulator [3]. One of the many surreal Platstation 1 & 2 "games" from Japan. I haven't played it, but I've been thinking about it lately as it's the cover art for Alt-J's album Relaxer [4].
Which reminds me of another *--STACK OVERFLOW--*
1. https://jonathanwhiting.com/games/knossu/press.html
2. https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Why+I+Write+Games+in+C
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I was very thankful to find my Airbnb, and once I had an anchor point it was better.
It’s a good thing to be cautious with crowds.
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Found a "hack" where I would go upstairs to the mall and then go down closer to the spot I need.
Shinjuku is way too massive (and now has plenty of diversions due to work om the station itself) to be understood easily by a tourist.
Also, I am curious of the justification. Why would anyone place signs that "... are incredibly confusing and often will all point to each other from every direction."
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Two signs pointing at each other (I've seen way more of this but here is one example): https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSe-8IR...
In addition to signs pointing to each other, you also see several signs at once pointing to the same thing in opposite directions: https://skyticket.jp/guide/wp-content/uploads/pixta_46188735...
Or signs pointing the same direction for both East and West exits: https://basyauma.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_5141-2-1...
and https://owl-eat-drink.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/tokyo/...
Same thing at Ikebukuro: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....
There are many, many more examples of this.
Signs are mostly useful for people who are new to a place, if you need a significant amount of time to familiarize yourself then they are useless.
There are multiple ways to get to various lines' platforms. This is not signs pointing to each other, this is signs in different places pointing to the same destination.
I live in Tokyo and while I do not go through Shinjuku often as I mostly live and work on the east side, I have no issue using the signs to find the platforms and exits I am looking for.
If you pay attention to what the signs have written on them, they will take you where you are trying to go.
