Tokyo's Shibuya district raises alarm against unruly Halloween, even caging Hachiko statue

Shibuya want to maintain young and dynamic image but in term of letting people enjoying Halloween they keep saying no, even most people ignore that from time to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bdcTjI9Ci0

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/%E6%B8%8B%E8%B0%B7%E3%83%8F%E3%83%AD%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%B3

Protect Shibuya from Halloween clowns..

Looking forward to a raucous and safe night. No danger foreseeable, so will join the masses!

This is totally overblown and just a face save for Ken Hasebe.Also, it just shows what a complete wasteland Tokyo is for young people.

What the hey. There are plenty of places to go and drinking on the street is lame. Let the Shibuya 

mandate what they want. Why make a big deal of it. In the US it's illegal to carry open containers of alcohol and people are busted for it. Let the people and businesses of Shibuya decide.

Glad I live in laid back Osaka not snotty and soulless Tokyo. Not that i would go to a Halloween night out, I find that stuff low class and full of common people behaving badly.

What the hey. There are plenty of places to go and drinking on the street is lame.

But the government want young people to have drink more alcohol.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/25/1119480772/japan-is-urging-its-youth-to-drink-more-alcohol

Halloween is not a Japanese cekebration. Then get rid of it.

Halloween is not a Japanese cekebration. Then get rid of it.

Then why many department store, combini and shopping centre they like to put Halloween decoration all over?

“We just want to stress, as a rule of our town and morale of this country, that street drinking can cause trouble and should be avoided,” Hasebe said.

Then if that is your strongly held belief , as a member of of your country's ruling polticial establishment, work to ban it nationwide.

At the Sanja Festival with tattooed members of organized crime groups carousing.

At the local shotengai shopping street festivals put on to promote local businesses.

At the dangerously packed riverside firework festivals.

It is the wishy-washy selective enforcement of laws, in this case Shibuya Halloween, that lead to "confusion".

Halloween is not a Japanese cekebration. Then get rid of it.

Really? And how do you propose to do that??

Glad I live in laid back Osaka not snotty and soulless Tokyo

Who you're trying to fool? Dotonbori, Amemura, Shimsaibashi etc. are the same zoo as Shibuya this time of the year.

Fear has run high that a large number of partygoers and tourists across Japan and the world following the COVID-19 pandemic could cause a disaster similar to last year's fatal crowd crush in South Korea's capital, Seoul.

Get over it! If this was such a huge concern, then Shibuya and all the other areas in Tokyo, or anywhere else in Japan, should be stopping any large gatherings of crowds!

New Years Eve ring a bell? Using the disaster in Korea as an excuse is going overboard.

If they want to stop people from coming, there are all sorts of ways to do it, but none that they want to do.

Problem with Halloween, is unlike other "matsuri" in Japan, there is no one set location for people to get together to enjoy or celebrate Halloween. Down here in Okinawa, everyone goes to the American Village in Chatan, and while it's a pain for the people who live there, it eliminates problems for other places around the island. Having one central location or venue could possibly solve the problem for Shibuya.

If they were smart about it, they should find a location and make some money off of it instead of wasting it on advertising that many folks wont pay attention to anyway!

That sent a wrong message to foreign tourists, Hasebe says. With the number of tourists rapidly growing this year

I am sure foreign tourists are a pretty small percentage of the party crowd. But it’s always politically wise to throw a bit of xenophobia into a public order issue.

What the hey. There are plenty of places to go and drinking on the street is lame. Let the Shibuya 

mandate what they want. Why make a big deal of it. In the US it's illegal to carry open containers of alcohol and people are busted for it. Let the people and businesses of Shibuya decide.

The background to this is Shibuya having a growing problem with tourists partying in the streets.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/cbed39cf2fb0bf97448b39053233567a11b22e5f/comments

It is clear in the Yahoo comments that many Japanese support the authorities cracking down on this. In this context, shutting down by far the best known incidence of drinking in the Shibuya streets sounds like a good idea.

Looking forward to a raucous and safe night. No danger foreseeable, so will join the masses!

The masses that will not attend? that is what will keep it safe in Shibuya.

This is totally overblown and just a face save for Ken Hasebe.

A face save for what? the point is to avoid something happening, not to save face after.

If the Hanshin Tigers win the Japan Baseball Series in the coming week Osaka peeps will knock Halloween celebrations off the calendar! Game one tonight.

In the mean time Mayor Hasebe could always request the SDF to assist with arresting and detaining Halloween revellers.

Mayor Ken Hasebe cynical scaremongering, a rather distasteful leveraging of a tragedy on South Korea's capital, especially so after the victims of this tragic event have just commemorated there loss.

Ghastly man. I cannot abide anyone elected to office that snivels, its all about health and safety to throw shadow on his own organizational deficiencies.

Families unveil memorial at site of Seoul's deadly 2022 Halloween crush

https://japantoday.com/category/world/seoul-creates-memorial-at-site-of-deadly-2022-crowd-crush1

Mayor Ken Hasebe is incompetence in office, countless Halloween festivals where revelers are able to enjoy the the fun of wizards, witches, to dress up, spend to support a pandemic ravaged local hospitality industry is beyond Hasebes capabilities/management....

All without incident.

Tokyo's busy shopping, business and entertainment district of Shibuya 

This fact has completely escaped Hasebe business acumen, a total mental bypass or a inability to understand various business scenarios, manage the challenges with a fully competent police and local government service personal/teem.

Be ready for the media covering it all day long on Halloween. Sure, they will show mostly drunk people wasted and a few misbehaving gaijin, not the fun side of the party.

Why make a big deal of it. In the US it's illegal to carry open containers of alcohol and people are busted for it.

This is a bit incorrect. States and local governments control the laws and consumption of alcohol. There are many places in the US, where it is fine to have an open containers.

Then why many department store, combini and shopping centre they like to put Halloween decoration all over?

Like xmas, lots of money to be made.

This mayor must not have many thjngs to do as he has spent a month campaigning against Halloween.

I don’t think you should wreck your streets but he could spend half the time money and energy on making it happen better instead of trying to ban it forever.

Anyways, come to Osaka, its much more chill and a better metropolis for living.

There are many places in the US, where it is fine to have an open containers.

But not as many as one may think. Yes it's up to the states, but the national government has guidelines regarding "open container" laws in vehicles. Also most states make it illegal to have open containers as well.

The following comment is not directed towards anyone in particular.

(I am fairly certain there will be people here who do not understand the fact that "drinking" alcohol in public is next to impossible to actually prove, hence the having an "open container that contains” any alcohol as being illegal)

Yes I find it an increasing irritation that politicians, and local media fall back on the myth of a caricature of the foreign tourist, visiting one Tokyo's premier shopping districts, on all hallow eve just to succumb to all manner of delinquent debauchery.

The besmirching this mythical drunken foreign invasion.

Welcome to Shibuya the Killjoy center of an ever increasing conservative fun hating country.

I implore Japanese to leave this place for greener pastures that don’t dote on seniors just to get their vote.

Roy, a few will always fall about in a drunken stupor on the first sniff of a pina colada or a bar towel.

Being drunk and disorderly carries a hefty fine in most societies.

I am not a advocate of public drinking that invariably leads to a nuisance for the local community.

This can be anticipated, managed with forethought, where necessary, belligerent drunken rowdiness be met with zero tolerance.

Don't let the imbecile few cancel the Halloween event for everybody

Let the people party.

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be 21-year old whose fledgling party days were stolen by Covid.

Were I a younger man, I’d be down there tonight, quaffing and wooing and having a ball, and no oyaji in a pretend police-lite security outfit would stop me.

Young people want to have fun. Old people want to inculcate a mindset of joyless drudgery.

Until Matsuri is banned, or the tens of thousands thronging outside temples on New Year’s Eve waiting to joylessly throw money at a tax-free ritual, I say let young people do what young people do.

Live, laugh and love. And don’t let anyone ever tell you not to.

Crazy people are going to do what crazy people do.

Freedom for Hachiko.

Reconsider? Reconsider means "Think again" and many people will "think again" and Decide To Come For Halloween at Shibuya!

Just say, "DON'T COME FOR HALLOWEEN TO SHIBUYA BECAUSE YOU MAY NEVER GO HOME"

Drink-till-you-drop in any of the hundreds of bars and izakaya there. Many of which will be decked out in Halloween-themed decorations. That's getting into the spirit of Halloween - off the narrow streets and lanes.

No need to be partying outside, just a recipe for disaster. Getting on the ¥200 cans of Chu-hi on the streets is kind of embarrassing.

Foreigners and young Japanese are an easy target for the media in Japan.

This Shibuya Halloween story will be discussed non-stop on TV where an ever increasing number of seniors will be told that Halloween and having fun is the work of the devil.

Meanwhile much more important news like the ever declining quality of life in Japan will just be swept under the rug.

The masses that will not attend?

No, the masses that are attending--obviously you didn't read the article, and are not in Japan,

city authorities fear this year's turnout could be higher, 

So who knows more about the crowd that will be in Shibuya--you, or the city officials?

As in past years I and other experts foresee this being safe and not even related to what happened in Itaewon.

I even guarantee it.

The huge banner may look good in Japanese, but it is ambiguous/nebulous in English.

"No events..." simply looks like nothing particular is planned. It does not ask or tell people not to gather, and they may actually end up getting masses of foreigners.

Every weekend shibuya is a ridiculous spectacle of drunk people throwing trash everywhere even during covid when it was mostly Japanese people. Halloween it gets worse but it's nothing new. This year they are trying to push people away but by doing that the opposite might just happen but we'll see this weekend. My predictions is it will be like last year and the crowd will die down by the last train

Roy, I believe this is a opportunity to keep all the shops, bars open, all night, however restrict access through managed events, giving the local community priority.

This festival, if a carefully crafted policy is implemented of dealing with an event that draws huge crowds to confided spaces, could well provide a formatted solution for future festivals.

Sometimes the impossible is because we convince ourselves that a solution doesn't exist.

If public drunkenness is a prevalent/widespread occurrence, then this behavior needs to be fully discouraged.

Yes streets might need to be cordoned off, electronic head counting with additional use of airport style facial recognition to identify miscreants, in other words, throw up over the Halloween friendlies, when you come round you will face a swingeing fine.

Come enjoy the show, the fun, however authorities will not tolerate public displays of drunkenness that threatens the wellbeing of the majority of festival participants.

Be warned.

Let the people party.

I love dance music, and one of Tokyo's biggest problems has been the police closing all of the clubs where I had some of the greatest times of my life in the 1990s. I met my wife in a club in Japan. Nightlife in Tokyo is not as good as it should be and the authorities are fully to blame. As other examples of folk having fun, it the 1990s there was hokousha tengoku every month at Aoyama, and the last train ran later than it does today. Trains ran all night at New Year as a matter of common sense.

While I accept things are going in the wrong direction on the "party" and "freedom" fronts, I fully understand if Shibuya folk do not want Center Gai turning into a BYOB booze up. Do not kid yourself that the mayor is doing this without local support.

By the way, here's the famous Shibuya Halloween kei truck video. Try spotting someone in a Halloween costume. It's basically just a load of p!ssed chancers who've turned up to see what's happening and maybe ogle some women in their underwear. I bet most actual Halloween cosplayers don't want that kind of person there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3nna42fRgg

It's just embarrassing seeing and reading about foreigners getting on their high Halloween horses as if there is some great principle involved and somehow they get to tell Shibuya and J authorities what goes down.

Fact is Shibuya has got way too many people drinking alcohol on the streets these days. Before Tokyo didn't need all the city regulations about dry zones etc because Japanese people used to drink in izakaya only or if done outside, it was done discreetly. Nobody cared including the police.

Now there's too many people everywhere, Japanese and foreigners, hanging out drinking alcohol til the early hours. Put that in the context of a busy Shibuya with too much traffic and too much pedestrian activity centred in key points and the Mayor is obviously trying to deal with that problem. Halloween is just part of it but to throw a tantrum about the right of Shibuya city and the J authorities to deal with it, shows how living in Japan doesn't improve the maturity levels of some foreigners.

They stop the combinis from selling alcohol but not the department stores so you are good until they close. Or just walk a few 100m down the road to a combini outside the "exclusion zone". Mr Kipling and friends will be going and street drinking. No laws being broken, I heard the advisory but choose to ignore it. I will not do any vandalism, start any fires or dangerous behavior.

Boy, I can't believe that all grown up children here are making such an issue out of Halloween. Nothing like this goes on in the US in such an expected way, but, "We're in Japan. Let's rumble before we fly home." Jees, it's just a kid's holiday. What's all the fussing and shooting about?

town officials are cordoning off the famed statue of Hachi — an unceasingly loyal dog — behind protective walls.

Okay, this is actually unhinged and insane.

“We just want to stress, as a rule of our town and morale of this country, that street drinking can cause trouble and should be avoided,” Hasebe said.

So like I said before, they are literally spelling out the agenda for you: it's not just about Halloween. They are going to try to ban public drinking. Also, what gives him the right to speak for the whole country? I am literally sitting on a public park bench as I right this, it's just past 10:30 in the morning and an old lady next to me just pounded down a beer. Why are we always singling out young people?

During COVID-19, when restaurants and bars were closed, young Japanese started drinking alcohol on the street, a practice that continued after pandemic restrictions were removed.

A problem THEY caused with their Covid-19 scam hysteria. A morally outrageous decision they were criticized for, sued for, and still don't want to accept responsibility for.

That sent a wrong message to foreign tourists, Hasebe says. With the number of tourists rapidly growing this year, some back streets near the Shibuya station area “look like (outdoor) pubs," he said.

See how he feels the need to explicitly call out non-Japanese people as a part of the problem?

But the government want young people to have drink more alcohol.

Yes. With literally no self-awareness as usual, that's what they were saying. Oh bbbbut not in Shibuya! Not in front of FamilyMart so you can save money! They want people cramped into izakayas and karaoke booths.

New Years Eve ring a bell?

This will be the next dumb fearmongering campaign in two months.

Anyway, this is what a declining society looks like. They have spent a month on insane propaganda and have created a crisis out of literally NOTHING.

You know what they're not talking about? The fact that Japan has fallen to fourth in GDP behind Germany. Reap what you sow Nippon.

Funny how way bigger events like fireworks near the rivers are considered safe, even when the nr of people are 10x times larger.

Swered never to go to those events when literly people step on each other and trying to exit the area feels like you are sheep or catles...

The hipocrisy and incompetence is beyond ridiculous with this "mayor"

This will be the night out of the year for tens of thousands.

And will be safe as in the past.

I encourage everyone, especially foreign tourists, to come out to Shibuya for the night out of your life.

I think what happened in S. Korea is a painful reminder of what can happen at these events.

The mayor of Shibuya is doing the right thing. He is saving lives.

Yes my suggestion, its an opinion, might sound like attempting to regiment the fun out of Shibuya Halloween festival.

Its give and take. A tad load but a warning to those who might take advantage of such occasions.

I have to say, I have rarely witnessed any J drunkenness ever becoming a danger to public health/safety or overt displays of belligerent miscontent. So I really don't envisage office dibble having to taser the angry drunk.

Roy may I ask your age, round about, no ill will or intent, my Father is much in the vain of restricting discouraging o such events in areas similar to Shibuya Halloween soirees,

He isn't a Gandalf the grumpy by any stretch of the imagination, insisting he was a ton-up boy in his younger life, how he achieved a hundred miles an hour out of his Yamaha fs1e, first and only motorbike is a still mystery.

Mother still has the photos.

Humm, a tinge off yellow hue to frighten the olive green in those tightened dangs, some would suggest, unfairly,

Hasebe, 50ish, is a youngster in J political world. although a his referral to Shibuya past could expose a rather unadventurous, chary negativity in middle age.

Can Shibuya's mayor turn his ward into a global icon?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/10/26/japan/society/shibuya-mayor-ken-hasebe/

"Even when I first took office, I would say, 'London, Paris, New York ... Shibuya, It has a certain hip quality to it, don't you think?"

No, the masses that are attending--obviously you didn't read the article, and are not in Japan,

The whole point of the article is the measures put in place to avoid this possibility from happening.

So who knows more about the crowd that will be in Shibuya--you, or the city officials?

The city officials are the ones putting measures in place to avoid the masses based on safety reasons, they are not contradicting the claim that multitudes will not attend, they are making an effort for this outcome to be.

As in past years I and other experts foresee this being safe and not even related to what happened in Itaewon.

Yet you bring none of those supposed experts that say uncontrolled access to Shibuya this year would be safe and have none of the risk factors of previous tragedies like in Seul, so that would be again a baseless appeal to non-existent experts.

This will be the night out of the year for tens of thousands.

Just not in Shibuya if the government can do something about it, and they intend to do it..

And will be safe as in the past.

The government of the city is a much more reliable source to see if something can or not be safe than nameless people on the internet.

I encourage everyone, especially foreign tourists, to come out to Shibuya for the night out of your life.

Since you have absolutely no way to ensure the safety of the people, and runs contrary to what the actual people that can recommend, this would be a terribly irresponsible thing to encourage.

The residents and businesses don't want mobs of drunken and rowdy self-entitled people who think that some inalienable right or freedom is being denied them when there are hundreds of organized Halloween parties with tables, chairs, food, drinks, and music throughout the city. They don't want more garbage, vandalism, and problems. Shibuya businesses are always busy on Saturday nights already.

The mayor works for and was elected by the residents and businesses in Shibuya. He's doing his job because they don't want it.

This sense of self-entitlement and that some freedom is being taken away, as if it's the only place and way to celebrate Halloween is a bad joke.

Roppongi looks good then !

They stop the combinis from selling alcohol but not the department stores so you are good until they close. Or just walk a few 100m down the road to a combini outside the "exclusion zone". Mr Kipling and friends will be going and street drinking. No laws being broken, I heard the advisory but choose to ignore it. I will not do any vandalism, start any fires or dangerous behavior.

Good for you Mr.Kipling,I hope you have a blast.

Thanks for the heads up about the department stores as well.

Simples, just cut the electricity supply to the city centre for 5 hours.

At first, this seems like a killjoy, reflexive reaction to foreign fun and young people enjoying themselves too much. And as others point out, there are loads of other mass events that could present equal risks. In fact, I remember one about 15 or 20 years ago where a large number of people were injured or crushed to death at a fireworks display.

But if you have ever been responsible for crowd safety (I have, at a city centre festival), and start looking at the risk factors - darkness and limited visibility, background noise, huge numbers of people randomly going in various directions, hard to see obstacles, heavy traffic, many narrow entrances with flights of stairs and escalators going down 2 or 3 floors, large numbers of visitors unfamiliar with the area, plus large scale drinking = drunken people and slimy pavements, wet paper and plastic all over the ground, narrow streets, people in bars and pubs unaware of what's happening outside ... you immediately realise Shibuya has all the ingredients for the kind of disaster that happened in Seoul last year. It is the stuff of nightmares trying to anticipate and mitigate. And I will never forget trying to prevent a drunken companion from falling down the stairs and escalators from next to Scramble Crossing, or the sound as his head hit the concrete. I would not wish that on anyone.

Leaving aside the separate issue of the neighbours getting p!ssed off at the regular disturbance of street drinking, I do agree with the mayor of Shibuya that the scale of the Halloween celebrations is getting too unpredictable and out of hand to guarantee everyone's safety.

However, any intelligent local government would look at trying to provide an alternative venue in order to head off criticism. Surely there must be somewhere in Tokyo that could be offered as an alternative, managed outdoor venue? Couldn't Shibuya organise something in nearby Yoyogi Park? Not that it would be my cup of tea, but clearly for many, dressing up and partying outdoors in this nice autumn weather is something they would like to do. That way, they could monetise it by renting space for food stalls, provide enough security, anticipate problem areas, get people away from the worst hazards, and still build Shibuya's reputation as a fun place.

I don’t think you should wreck your streets but he could spend half the time money and energy on making it happen better instead of trying to ban it forever.

This.

Halloween is not automatically strife. Its also an opportunity.

All you got to do is set up some organized events, such as dancing, haunted houses, games, etc...make them "cute" and the girls will flock there and guys will either follow or be drug along.

If this guy was smart he would embrace Halloween. But instead of show some leadership he has reached for the old fashioned Japanese "DON'T!" Don't what? Don't have any fun. Don't enjoy life. Don't think for yourself. Don't try new things. Don't smile. Don't come.

Foreigners and young Japanese are an easy target for the media in Japan.

This Shibuya Halloween story will be discussed non-stop on TV where an ever increasing number of seniors will be told that Halloween and having fun is the work of the devil.

Spitfire is on the money here. This is the gerontocracy at work and you see it time and time again if you read or watch any Japanese media.

Other events that aren't strictly Japanese such as St. Patrick's Day where Omotesando Hills is closed off for a parade and other international events held at Yoyogi Park show this can be done safely and generate a massive amount of money. You can bet you'll have old cranks that would love those events cancelled too.

In any case, last year proved they've ruined any chance they had at monetizing Shibuya halloween. Typical lack of creativity from stiff, soreheaded old bureaucrats.

I have my own parties to go to this year so won't be at Shibuya but hope everyone going there has a fun and safe night. :)

Fear has run high that a large number of partygoers and tourists across Japan and the world following the COVID-19 pandemic could cause a disaster similar to last year's fatal crowd crush in South Korea's capital, Seoul.

The thousands of people descending on Shibuya do not share that irrational fear, just as they do not fear earthquakes, that can be destructive, Or asteroid strikes.

Just not in Shibuya if the government can do something about it, and they intend to do it..

But they can't do anything, and they won't. Those are the facts,

I will upset, anger, as a English women. an entitled millennial born between 1981 – 1996 that’s between 27 – 42, now an ensconced J citizen upstart with a vote, well just one vote, probably meaningless to most.

However, reading the Japan Times link posted, I suggest Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe political agenda reaches far beyond the yearly Halloween so called deluge of youth public displays to wonton drunken depravity.

Shibuya resident community has suffered similar dysfunctional disparities akin to the demographics of an accelerating aging J population.

Shibuya vibrant shopping district, the boutiques and cafes, serving a noisy footfall of commuting youth age variants to Tokyo from three adjacent prefectures, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa.

Halloween is now an unacceptable chore.

All the envisaged drunken revelers are to much for the aging Shibuya resident to tolerate, unwilling to accept that the local economy is dependent on commuter/foreign visitor footfall, and the afterhours street disruption.   

So, Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe, envisions as a “mature ward”, offering an agenda for change, however it is a false dawn, there is no such thing as something for nothing.

SHIBUYA-KU - Special Ward (tokubetsu-ku) in Tokyo Special Wards Area

https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/tokyocity/13113__shibuya_ku/

18.9% aged over 65 years, no wonder, imagine residing in a thin-walled rabbit hutch in such a metropolis of noise 24/7…

However, Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe is politically playing both ends off against the middle, without a clear economic policy to counteract any risks associated with a fall in the middle to long consumer revenue stream.

They should declare an state of emergency and stop all activity in Shibuya, close all businesses, all stations and everything until the end of the year, in order to prevent this event, which is the most important thing ever.

Halloween is not automatically strife. Its also an opportunity

The problem is that you are assuming this opportunity outweights the costs, that is definetely not a valid position to take, specially with the degradation of conduct observed before and the direction Shibuya wants to follow from now own. Any place would be justified in rejecting events that go against what they want to project, even without the safety concerns that have been proved valid in previous events.

The thousands of people descending on Shibuya do not share that irrational fear, just as they do not fear earthquakes, that can be destructive, Or asteroid strikes.

Since these thousands are not responsible for the safety of each other that is irrelevant, nor are the safety concerns irrational. If they felt that there was no need to build considering earthquakes that would not be an excuse to be allowed to do that either. They would have first to prove objectively the concerns are irrelevant.

But they can't do anything, and they won't. Those are the facts

The measures that they are doing about it are included in the article, that completely contradicts your claim they can't or are doing anything.

If the powers that be in Shibuya ran it like a festival with oyaji-organized dances, oyaji-organized music, and oyaji-organized contests for Best Costume complete with Governor’s Choice prizes, it would die within two years and the crowds would disperse to the Yamanote line like they did in the past.

They should declare an state of emergency and stop all activity in Shibuya, close all businesses, all stations and everything until the end of the year, in order to prevent this event, which is the most important thing ever.

Yeh, maybe implement a tourist ban too. After all, we need to curb the spread of the viru... er, I mean, welcoming attitudes towards the practice of Halloween related events.

Anyway, I'm currently watching the Shibuya station 24/7 live feeds on YouTube. It's not even 5pm yet, but it doesn't seem like there's anything wild or out of control going on. Though, the area around the station is actually more congested thanks to the barriers they erected around the Hachiko statue. This really isn't a fantastic look for them, going out of their way to make commuting more inconvenient in order to try to prove a point. It looks like a heavily dragged-out, irrational and kneejerk response to something that was pretty much always going to be a non-issue.

Hopefully nothing bad happens, visitors uphold good and responsible behavior, and in few months the mayor embarrassingly steps down for having the audacity to make himself the center of national media attention and stir unnecessary controversy for an entire month.

Hasebe calls it a town.

Hasebe, a native of Shibuya, says his 91-year-old town — founded by people from around Japan

Yourdictionary:

In general, any place with more than 2,500 residents can be considered a city, and anything with fewer residents can be considered a town. 

As of April 1, 2022, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 228,906[citation needed] and a population density of 15,149.30 people per km2 (39,263.4/sq mi). The total area is 15.11 km2 (5.83 sq mi).

Shibuya City includes many well-known commercial and residential special districts (suburbs) such as Daikanyama, Ebisu, Harajuku, Hiroo, Higashi, Omotesandō, Sendagaya, and Yoyogi.

More special districts:

Hatagaya Area:

Sasazuka, Hatagaya, Honmachi

Yoyogi Area:

Uehara, Ōyamachō, Nishihara, Hatsudai, Motoyoyogichō, Tomigaya, Yoyogikamizonochō

Sendagaya Area:

Sendagaya, Jingūmae

Ebisu-Ōmukai Area:

Kamiyamachō, Jinnan, Udagawachō, Shōtō, Shinsenchō, Maruyamachō, Dōgenzaka, Nanpeidaichō, Sakuragaokachō, Hachiyamachō, Uguisudanichō, Sarugakuchō, Daikan'yamachō, Ebisunishi, Ebisuminami

Hikawa-Shimbashi Area:

Shibuya, Higashi, Ebisu, Hiroo

And the mayor of Shibuya City wants to bring attention to the Halloween event to get re-elected mayor of his city.

Shibuya is run by a city assembly of 34 elected members. The mayor is Ken Hasebe, an independent.

So, Shibuya is a town or a city, and Tokyo is a prefecture with only a special label because there is no shi or ku named Tokyo because they want to be compared to true cosmopolitan cities and compete for global events like the Olympics. Also, no one in Japan has the address with Tokyo (City), Tokyo following the zip code.

Hercolobus

Halloween is not a Japanese cekebration. Then get rid of it.

It certainly is a Japanese "cekebration" now, and the effort by the Shibuya government to cancel it is ridiculous.

I am happy I was living in my country when a student, where we had the freedom to drink in the streets and parks if we wanted.

Japan would win to have parties and festivals like in southern Europe, France, Spain , Italy where drinking in the streets, even more is part of the culture. And should inspire from many southeast Asian counties with their night markets.

All this restrictions are killing the true spirit of the Japanese

If Shibuya is such a hazardous place to congregate why only Halloween?

Could not the same dangers risk to ;life and limb be prevalent at Christmas or the New Year?

The temptation or risk of public drunkenness is only confined to just Halloweens?

They also have electronic billboards on trucks, blocking the street, and on one of them an English message just read, "Please do not take photos or videos with smartphones at the Shibuya station." This is actually wild. Do they not want people capturing what an utterly embarrassing fiasco this is? Maybe they don't police getting caught on camera acting in a way that is unbecoming of the badge?

Somebody really needs to whip up an AI image of the mayor's face on a baby, crying hysterically. Because let's face it. That's basically what this is. This is a temper tantrum.

This story is truly gripping the nation. I feel a powderkeg ready to explode. Please take care everyone.

He's just loving the spotlight, that's all. He'll become a star and be mentioned a a candidate for prime minister.

It fails to register, Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe cannot to put his finger on why playing the health and safety ruse, can lead to questions that cast doubt on his competence.

It leads to ridicule that public displays of alcohol consumption are purely confined to Halloween.

It certainly is a Japanese "cekebration" now, and the effort by the Shibuya government to cancel it is ridiculous.

There is no such effort, Shibuya is only interested on stopping people from celebrating in their streets for several reasons, but it has never said anything about it being wrong itself or that people should stop celebrating it anywhere else.

It fails to register, Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe cannot to put his finger on why playing the health and safety ruse, can lead to questions that cast doubt on his competence.

Why would recognizing the risks of such an event cast a doubt on his competence? there are plenty of examples why this could be dangerous, and as long as the people of Shibuya are not interested in risking something from happening he is demonstrating to do his job competently.

Pretending nothing dangerous would happen and going against the desires of the people he represents would be a much stronger argument against his competence.

Halloween is such a load of crap, just another excuse for businesses to sell party rubbish and make money. And the unthinking masses lap it all up. How completely shallow it all is.

virusrex, is public nuisance, drunkenness confined to just Halloween festivals?

Is it not politically expedient for Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe to contrive, secure his constituents votes by conceit/concoction to throw Halloween under a tram to pacify his core vote, whilst insisting such restriction will not be implemented during the Christmas/New years holiday season so not to infuriate Shibuya hospitality sector?

Fabricate a health and safety concern, throw taxpayer money at a poster billboard campaign, beast the foreigner,, along with those non voting drunken good-for-nothing youths that are only visible at Halloween and his reelection is secure.

That's right, bud... keep telling young people not to do something and watch what happens. I predict a bigger turnout than ever, although more chaos or not, I don't know.

Money Talk and ......... Walks, impose $$ penalties like 50,000 ~~ up to 100,000JPY for public drinking and watch people follow the rules.

$$ always talks.

Wow

I'm here now,and it's really fun!

We're currently trying free Hachikp from her cage whilst chugging chuhais from the department stores.

Japan has so many of its own festivals, it doesn't need imported rubbish like Halloween, even the modern commercial version of Christmas for that matter.