True Earth

Outstanding! Where do you get all those different people? Or are they cleverly Photoshopped?

Simmer2

Can't wait to see the finished product!

Thanks for the comment @Simmer2!

Nope, theres no photoshop in the scene aside from a slight filter and border (custom lot editor textures made myself too) - all the people were MMPed and came from these packs:

and https://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=3448.

@mike_oxlong Thanks for the comment, I hope to get it out here pretty soon

@korver Thank you for the prompt reply

Nick

That's the intersection of dreams!

Colourful pictures

Very tantilizing post!!  Can't wait to see more from Japan!

Nice preview - can't wait to see more...!   

Interesting that you chose Shibuya, playing a key role in this episode of SE Lain

Wow I can't wait for more.

...with bated breath!

Wow, coincidently, I have been watching this week a jaw-dropping series of videos on Youtube by Rambalac that are just long-take, un-narrated walks through popular locations in Japan, the first of which was Shibuya at night.  As the videos are in 4K, you can put them on the big screen for fully immersive people-watching:

Korver's scene is so amazingly populated, this clip is like walking through that very SimCity crossing.  I think I can even see an MMP street performer singing by the canopy.  I never thought when watching these clips that we would soon get the Korver version.

I remember going thru Shibuya Crossing when I visted Tokyo 7 years ago... well done!

Wonderful, can't wait to see the whole thing.

btw, in the second picture, I can see some cherry trees. Where did you get them? I want to add some flowers to my city.

Nothing screams "tourist trap" than an intersection in Shibuya!

Good job though, I like it  

I was expecting to see the Shibuya crossing in this thread and... BOOM, first picture!

Woooow!!! 

Really hyped to see the complete stuff and see your take on Japanese cities, so popular these times in this site   Also, the Shibuya crossing pic is stunning! The mix of HD props and buildings, your custom textures and MMP density really replicates the real thing.

Keep up the good work!!

—SC4L0ver.

The asphalt texture looks great. Where do you get it? 

@The British Sausage Thanks for the comment!

@feyss Thanks for the comment!

@Prophet42 Thanks for the nice comment, there's plenty more on the way

@RobertLM78 Thank you! I haven't seen that particular series, but I've seen the intersection (or atleast a lookalike) featured in a number of places now. It's certainly a popular intersection for sure

@dabadon5 Thank you, I hope to complete the rest of the update here shortly

@tonyr Thanks for the comment! There's more on the way

@Odainsaker Thanks for the comment - love the video too I watched a number of similar videos while deciding on what pictures I wanted to do for the update and I quickly fell in love with the area and knew I had to do it - the intersection was truly quite mesmerizing.

@redfox85 Thanks! I'd love to visit there one day as well

@Angry Mozart Thanks! I believe I used neko's set which were MMPed by Uki and can be found here: http://uki-sim.seesaa.net/index-9.html and some of the VIP ones in this pack.

@Tonraq Thank you! When I first discovered that intersection, I knew I had to try my hand at it Glad you liked it.

@TekindusT It was one of those scenes I made sure not to leave out!

@SC4L0ver Thank you very much! It took a while to gather up enough HD stuff and to make all the custom textures but the final result was worth it Glad you liked it.

@bluesky.23 It's a set of custom made HD lot editor textures I created.

Itsukushima always reminds me now of the taiga drama "Yoshitsune," based on the epic "Tale of the Heike" about the historical war between the Heike and the Genji clans.  Heike leader Taira no Kiyomori largely oversaw the layout of Itsukushima as the floating home shrine and western enclave of his sea-based Taira family, and in many ways Itsukushima becomes the model for his planned new city of Fukuhara, the "Dream Capital by the Sea" that would replace corrupt and stagnating Kyoto and open ancient Japan to the world.  Those grand plans fall apart as Kiyomori's rivals, the eastern-based Genji, regroup and rise up to topple of the Heike.  Led by youthfully idealistic general Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the Genji fleets finally destroy the Heike in the naval battle of Dan-no-ura, where the last of the defeated Heike "return to the sea" by throwing themselves, the Imperial regalia, and the child Emperor into the raging maelstroms.

Although I was quietly rooting for the tragic Kiyomori, the show was actually about the titular hero Yoshitsune.  Early in the series, a fatherly Kiyomori shows the child Yoshitsune a painted folding screen of his Dream Capital by the Sea, and though their paths would diverge due to their clan loyalties, Yoshitsune continues to pursue Kiyomori's quest for the Dream Capital, hoping to find it elsewhere in the distant Genji homeland of Hiraizumi or the new Genji stronghold of Kamakura.  Like the thwarted Fukuhara, both cities fail to meet the idyllic expectations as Yoshitsune's Genji kin instead form the ruthless first shogunate and force him to commit suicide, which he ultimately does in front of a vision of Kiyomori's painted screen of the lost shining city by the sea.  It's all very melodramatic, and I admit I kept fighting back tears every time that haunting folding screen of Kiyomori's Dream Capital appeared, tantalizing viewers much like the Holy Grail.  Like the grail, the Dream Capital and the greater Dream Country may not be real places, but are ultimately found in the heart of the faithful, a variation of the Pure Land as heaven.

It could alternatively be argued that modern, bustling Tokyo now 800-years later has finally become the Dream Capital by the Sea.  I recall watching a clip of an entertainment show where the actor who portrayed Yoshitsune visited Itsukushima in promotion of the television series and remarked at how ironic and unnerving it all felt given his role in the epic drama as the one who destroyed the Heike.

As we build our own SimCity Dream Capitals, we can watch the historical costume soap opera "Yoshitsune" here with English subtitles.

 

Your close-ups are so good it even looks like we're playing a different game... well done!

Stunning!

Incredibly well done!

Can't wait to see the whole entry.

@Odainsaker Thanks for the insight - I had only read up on the shrine very briefly, so your post and comparison really inspired me to take a closer look. There's certainly some very interesting parallels for sure!

@Kim Sunwoo Thanks for the nice words!

@_Michael Thanks for the comment! 

@JP Schriefer Thank you very much!