Tokyo's Shibuya area introduces year-round ban on street alcohol consumption

Toothless. The revised ordinance does not impose penalties on violators.

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I'll 乾杯 to that!

It's not a law.

Its ward office cited an influx in visitors during Halloween and more littering in the area after Shibuya introduced its ban.

Shibuya has foreigners carousing in front of convenience stores.

Shinjuku has aggressive touts, open prostitution, underage drinking and gangsterism.

But yes lets blaming the foreign visitors.

Take a look at Shibuya Meltdown and you'll see that it's often the Japanese, and not the 'foreign visitors', that are causing a lot of the problems.

Are there drunken tourists? Yes. Are they the main cause of the anti social behaviour caused by excessive drinking in public? No!

Funny, it is technically illegal to smoke on the streets yet no one gets fined.

Funny thing, every time I go at night in Shibuya or Skinju, I only see young local drinking and loitering on the streets, usually drunk and loud. Some tourists near Konbinis enjoying a cold one, but they always dump the cans or bottles in conbini 's trash can.

Why so much hate for tourists here? Just because they are making the place too crowded?

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I dont drink at all, but from what I hear from clients and friends visiting the country, being able to drink alcohol wherever and whenever you want in this streets is something out of this world, and they enjoy it very much.

How about passing a drunkenness prevention law instead? 1 or 2 chuhai is not the problem.

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open prostitution

This has always been a problem in that area, but I feel like it is definitely getting worse and more brazen in recent years.

Its ward office cited an influx in visitors during Halloween and more littering in the area after Shibuya introduced its ban.

So the ban resulted in more littering?

And there was an increase in foreign tourists visiting Shibuya-ku after then ban?

Makes no sense in the context of this article.

People are still gonna drink out there. Every time I go to Shibuya, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings, it looks degusting. Trash everywhere, vomit everywhere, people passed out sleeping on the streets (mostly Japanese). There's nothing the government can really do about this situation other than slap people with fines(good luck with that) or accommodate the mass and start putting out more trash cans or big dumpsters. This won't solve the problem completely but it'll definitely help with the garbage situation. Japan ain't how it used to be; it's time for these lawmakers to realize that and get with the times and adapt.

Excellent, well done..

It's not a law.

Whine and get drunk at home.. LOL

Toothless. The revised ordinance does not impose penalties on violators.

Neither the original ordinance for Halloween yet it was very effective in reducing street drinking. It is not illogical to think the local government expects the same thing to happen now.

But yes lets blaming the foreign visitors.

The text you quote do not make a distinction between national or foreign visitors.

Why so much hate for tourists here? Just because they are making the place too crowded?

The new ordinance would also affect locals, the government first did something at the times the problem was more severe, now they want to deal with it all year long.

So the ban resulted in more littering?

And there was an increase in foreign tourists visiting Shibuya-ku after then ban?

The ban in Shinjuku resulted in increased littering and tourists in Shibuya.

People are still gonna drink out there

Many said the same thing about the Halloween measures, that they would have no effect, yet they had.

People are still gonna drink out there. Every time I go to Shibuya, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings, it looks degusting. Trash everywhere, vomit everywhere, people passed out sleeping on the streets (mostly Japanese). There's nothing the government can really do about this

How about Toei and Metro trains running 24h just like a few other mega cities?

Even 1 train every 30min. would bring these people to the safety of their homes and out of the streets.

@SDCA

Funny, it is technically illegal to smoke on the streets yet no one gets fined.

I see this every day when I’m dropping my kids off in the morning or picking them up in the evening. Laws/rules/ordinances for no smoking or drinking in public are merely suggestions if they aren’t enforced.

Laughable, then they just excessively drink under sunlight from 5am to 6pm or move some roads away into a nearby district that is uncovered by this pseudo ruling, which is probably not even covered by existing law paragraphs, or is it?

You imposed a year round street drinking ban… in one of your night life hot spots filled with bars, clubs, and hotels because one day out of the year was wild, instead of making it more organized chaos and profiting from it.

wheres that Morgan Freeman “good luck” gif.

I don’t mind in principle but the solution to the Shibuya Halloween issue isn’t trying to enforce some non binding rule, it would have been Tokyo designating an official area for it. Setting up some booths for sponsors and retailers and taking the tourists and “it’s my first time out of the house I’m so wild after one sip of beer” kids for all their worth. Just like any festival.

just like the Fuji combini pictures, this won’t do anything and looks more like a missed opportunity for the area than anything else

Sp silly. Another Japanese local government decision based on tea leaves.

Laughable, then they just excessively drink under sunlight from 5am to 6pm

Do you think people will go to the trouble of getting togheter to drink for a few minutes if they could do the same elsewhere?

or move some roads away into a nearby district that is uncovered by this pseudo ruling

This being precisely the point, if people leave Shibuya to drink on the streets of another ward the measure would prove to be effective. Shibuya is not trying to reduce the number of people drinking on the street in general, their aim is to reduce the number of people that do it in that ward.

Sp silly. Another Japanese local government decision based on tea leaves.

Based on the success observed in Halloween, not illogical to expect a similar result.

Based on the success observed in Halloween, not illogical to expect a similar result.

It's illogical to think Halloween was a success.

It's illogical to think Halloween was a success.

No, it is not their application of the ban reduced the problem the government was trying to fight, so it is a success according to the people that put the measure in place, nothing illogical about it.

I rarely see foreigners in Japan smoking in Shibuya, but I do see a lot of Japanese smoking and leaving their cigarette butts all over the place. Even in my own area of Saitama and Gunma, they will often just pull over and empty their entire ashtray at the side of the road along with all their coffee tins and styrofoam ramen containers.

kabukicho is a pigeon everyday. Nothing extra or special about halloweeen. It’s outright filthy. And so Japan only is encouraging day drinking? The common sense is beyond lacking. When you try to control the opposite will be the reaction.

 And so Japan only is encouraging day drinking? The common sense is beyond lacking. When you try to control the opposite will be the reaction.

The problem is what you consider "the opposite", people drink after 6 PM because is much more convenient for most, that convenience is not going to transfer magically to an earlier time just because of the ban. In this case the obvious reaction is to choose another place to do it, which is perfectly fine for the local government of Shibuya.

Just party poopers. Not the only party place in town.

Nobody cares

It wont work unless servers are ordered not to serve Alcohol after certain hours which will NOT HAPPEN.

No, it is not their application of the ban reduced the problem the government was trying to fight, so it is a success according to the people that put the measure in place, nothing illogical about it.

Illogical from every angle of logic.

The own government of Shibuya has declared that the measures put in order in Halloween greatly reduced the problem they were meant to address, there is nothing illogical on saying that this constitutes a success, spe declared that the measures put in order in Halloween greatly reduced the problem

I love street drinking ,its cheaper and the eye candy is amazing .

Wow. I spent many a night drinking in front of the combini in Shibuya as a warm up before hitting the bars. It was great for people watching. The end of an era.