Japan has a complex relationship with Halloween. Go back about 20 years, and it was hardly a thing at all in the country. Slowly but surely, though, Halloween has been building in popularity, thanks in no small part to being an opportunity to enjoy cosplay and sweets, two things people in Japan are pretty enthusiastic about. In recent years, businesses and local governments have largely embraced those aspects of Halloween, with many of them putting up special decorations and hosting parades and official costume events.
But some people see Halloween not just as a reason to get dressed up, but a reason to get liquored up too. Many of the first large-scale Halloween celebrations in Tokyo were unorganized groups of people congregating on the street to show off or check out costumes, often while taking full advantage of Japan’s lax laws regarding public consumption of alcohol. At first it was mostly seen as nothing more than quirky fun, but in recent years public perception of the impromptu Halloween street parties has soured due to acts of violence, vandalism, and other not-so-hilarious Halloween hijinks taking place at them, not to mention large amounts of litter left on the streets the next morning.
So with Halloween not that far off, Japanese politician Kenichi Yoshizumi, mayor of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward, has a message for anyone looking to get wild on the streets of Shinjuku this Halloween: “Honestly, we’re totally fine if you don’t bother to come to Shinjuku on Halloween.”
Yoshizumi made the frank statement during a press conference on Sept 10 which included a reiteration of the public drinking ban Shinjuku is putting in place for Halloween night. Originally announced in June, the ban will take effect starting 5 p.m. on October 31 and be in place until 5 the next morning, covering the area around Shinjuku Station, including the Kabukicho nightlife district.
“There are people who come to Shinjuku [on Halloween] just to get rowdy, make a mess for other people to clean up, and go home,” said Yoshizumi. “It’s a very peculiar phenomenon, and something we absolutely want them to refrain from doing. Honestly, we’re totally fine if you don’t bother to come to Shinjuku on Halloween.”
Yoshizumi’s choice of words shows that he’s aware that the public drinking ban is likely to make Shinjuku a less attractive destination for a certain segment of Halloween revelers, including travelers who happen to be in Tokyo on October 31. Those are crowds he can do without, though.
It’s worth pointing out that Shinjuku hasn’t experienced Halloween street party problems on the scale that Shibuya, the neighboring neighborhood to the south, has. Shibuya was actually the first part of Tokyo to see massive Halloween parties materialize, with some of its crowds migrating to Shinjuku after Shibuya began cracking down on bad behavior (Shibuya now has a public drinking ban of its own in place on Halloween). One could argue that Shinjuku’s strict policy may end up just shifting the Halloween street party problems to another part of the city, but at least it won’t be on Yoshizumi’s turf.
Source: Teleasa News via Hachima Kiko
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© SoraNews24
21 Comments
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dagon
Unfortunately this is the Japanese bureaucracy's attitude with many classes of foreigners: Spend your money, make us money, don't stand out and leave ASAP.
It is a gap in that 'o-mo-te-na-shi' spiel.
Halloween was fine until people really began to revel in it.
JeffLee
I recall the first public or sizable celebration was costumed foreigners dressed up and riding the Yamanote together at night on the 31st.
aaronagstring
Too right. If I wanted Halloween goods for school, I had to traipse over to a poxy little shop almost in the middle of no-where, and pay extortionate prices for my trouble. Now I can walk to my local home centre, where they’ve been on sale since mid-August. Mid-August! I’m literally “up-to-here” with Halloween now. It’s too much.
Aly Rustom
exactly.
'o-mo-te-na-shi' is made up BS.
genshijin
Yamanote line parties with lights smashed, passengers with beer thrown over then if they complain. Sadly mostly foreigners. It is an abuse of social freedoms.
The kickback is punishing everyone just having a good time and a night out drinking.
Chuck
In all these years of reading about Halloween in Tokyo, I’ve never heard of this. Especially the part about it being mostly foreigners.
Care to provide a link to a news article on a real news site?
kohakuebisu
Public drinking is illegal in some countries. Its been tolerated in Japan for years, many longtermers will have started a big night out with a couple of cheap ones outside the conbini, Japanese do it too, but it has reached a critical mass problem in Shibuya where they are now kicking back against it. Its much easier to overlook two or three people doing something than groups of twenty or more outside a conbini in Center Gai.
We were in Seoul recently, in the Shibuya-like bit called Myeongdong which has streets crammed with food stalls. Plenty of Westerners, many walking round eating fried chicken or meat on sticks which would go well with a beer from the many convenience stores, but no-one was walking around drinking them. As the story says, I think a bit of an unwelcome "let's all drink on the streets of Shibuya" culture has developed as a backstory to this.
justsomeguy8008
Lets not act like every weekend (and most weekdays) kabukicho isn't a huge mess. Acting like banning drinking one night is going to do anything is funny.
opheliajadefeldt
I can not think of any worse than attending any town holding a Halloween celebration.......Ugh!!
Chuck
Many years ago, some people — foreigners and Japanese — did this every Halloween on the Osaka Kanjo Line. My friends invited me to go along every year, but I told them that I didn’t see the fun in bothering the other passengers for my drunken amusement.
Still, after each Halloween, I didn’t hear of any property damage or arrests.
Mr Kipling
Remember, this "ban" is voluntary and has no enforcement so when the clowns in "security uniforms" tell you "NO DRINKING" just do as I do and thank them for their service but go and bother someone else.
They soon move on. I am a grown up. I can enjoy a beer without starting a riot.
diagonalslip
try Kabukicho any Saturday or Sunday morning.... wall-to-wall debris, human and otherwise.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Omotenashi at its finest.
tamanegi
What's with all these Halloween party poopers? It's Japan's biggest occasion of the year.
In Osaka my local bakery, coffee shop and supermarket have huge Halloween displays, a local kindergarten has a Halloween event today and at the local park dog run you can bring your dog dressed in a Halloween costume today to win a prize! Despite it being 35°C.
I for one say Happy Halloween everyone!
GO HALLOWEEN IN JAPAN!!
リッチ
lol. Japanese need a reason. The whole country is centered about drunks. What is this nonsense. Just a crack down on western things??
shogun36
What is this?
Like the second or third straight year we have been hearing about this nonsense.
We get it already.
We've all moved on.
So many of us don't even live in Tokyo anyway, it's a non-story already.
Newgirlintown
Make no ‘bones’ about it, Halloween in Shinjuku is going to be an ‘egg’citing night with ‘lots’ of people having a whale of a time!
carpslidy
Halloween is a kids event
Why grown ups need feel the need to dress up is beyond me
starpunk
Halloween is a fun event. When I was in college, me and my friends would surprise each other with the freakiest outfits. We didn't get drunk, there's no real need to in order to have fun.
The last Halloween night party I went to was actually a Shonen Knife show in a club. There were cosplayers everywhere, and the punk rocking ladies themselves were wearing sexy short blue dresses like they stepped right out of the 'Jetsons' TV cartoon series. They have that kawaii personae and image anyway.
Anyway, you can still celebrate this fun day w/o getting trashed and making a boorish fool outta yourself.
DanteKH
Instead of monetizing this event and actually get some revenue out of it, those incompetent Mayors don't want to be bother with the extra income a night like this can bring.
The incompetence and stupidity of some of those officials is beyond comprehension.