Of all the cities and towns along the Southern California coast, Malibu has gained near-legendary status for its sunny beaches, board-friendly surf, cinematic sunsets, and covetable estates.

Is wabi sabi a philosophy or a design style? It’s notoriously difficult to delineate as a concept—so much so that in Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, author Andrew Juniper notes that “even the most ambitious Japanese scholars would give it a wide berth and uphold the Japanese tradition of talking about it in only the most poetic terms.”

On any given day, Shibuya Crossing is a blur of bodies traversing the street in every direction. At this famous intersection — said to be one of the busiest in the world — almost half a million pedestrians cross the scramble every day. But what might seem like a recipe for chaos is, in reality, a perfectly executed synchronized dance of locals and tourists. At night, the scene is similarly entrancing, as cars whiz through the busy junction, their lights glowing like fireflies. It’s one of the most iconic and enduring images of Tokyo, showcasing the city’s many unique singularities.