Halloween revelry around Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya crossing has grown too scary for its own good, but can “saying ‘Don’t come here’” keep a lid on it?
Halloween revelry around Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya crossing has grown too scary for its own good, but can “saying ‘Don’t come here’” keep a lid on it?
It grew into an absolute, spoiled shitshow the last time I was in town for it (pre-covid).
I thought it was cool when it was smaller too but now it is impeding traffic, causing harassment and the kind of public drunkenness that actually is a nuisance, and leaving a ton of cleanup for the hard-working laborers who keep the trains orderly. Another Eternal September situation.
But catching the inaka line with a few friends fresh off the conbini, that was still a good time last I checked.
edit: My mistake, for some reason I got it into my head that this was in relation to the Yamanote line party. I’m very surprised by this, although I did expect something to happen eventually because it seems like the physical harassment just kept getting worse every year. But anyway, my comment is irrelevant.
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I think I had a crossed wire and I apologize because I was initially upset by your response. I even read the article last night; I’m embarrassed.
I was speaking of the Yamanote line party, not the crossing. There’s problems with Shibuya but the traffic is hardly one of them.
I know this is late, but I wanted to give you a response.
99% of the year every Tokyoite is clean and respectful of the city and the personal space of others. They don’t get much approved days where they can let loose on the streets. Maybe some summer festivals and impromptu gatherings at Yoyogi park but that’s it. What I’ve noticed after all these events, Halloween in Shibuya included, there are participants and neighborhood people that go out and help clean the mess. I helped clean after one, i think it was 2017. I asked someone else why they were doing it and their response was basically “I do it so everyone else can continue having fun.” They weren’t complaining about picking up other people’s garbage and they didnt want the event to be cancelled in the future either.
The pressure at the bottom is great in their society and cancelling halloween in Shibuya was the wrong decision, they should have just expanded it to other areas to help control crowds and block off more streets for pedestrians that night only. I’m sorry you didnt enjoy it, I dont like parties usually but I always had a blast at them. I think my first one was 2009 and if I was in China for work I would always take a vacation to visit my friends at that time.
Thanks for the response - I had similar experiences with Shibuya over the years.
I did enjoy Shibuya on Halloween, quite a lot, but again it was late and I got confused with thinking this was about the Yamanote-sen party because that had hit a boiling point last I checked. Two very different parties, sorry for getting them mixed up.