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What’s it like in Shibuya on Halloween this year?

Oona McGee Oct 31, 2024
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A vibe check of the neighbourhood reveals countermeasures might be necessary.

Today is 31 October in Japan, which means all eyes are firmly placed on Shibuya to see whether or not Halloween revellers will wreak havoc in the area, despite the head of the ward telling the public, “Shibuya is closed for Halloween“.

Our reporter Seiji Nakazawa took a walk through the area earlier today for a vibe check, and he was surprised at the measures being taken by so many local businesses, at the request of Shibuya City, to clamp down on the event in an effort to curtail bad behaviour on Halloween.

Starting at the entrance to Center Gai, the shopping street just off the scramble crossing, he could see “No Drinking on the Street” banners plastered everywhere.

The Center Gai branch of Burger King cleverly jumped on the bandwagon with Shibuya’s drinking ban notices, creating posters of its own that read “No Burger King“, in reference to the fact that it will be closed the entire day (and night) of Halloween.

▼ It’ll reopen on 1 November, though, with the new Kyoto Whopper on the menu.

▼ Another store to close on Halloween is shoe retailer ABC-Mart.

▼ Ikea Shibuya shortened its business hours to 4 p.m. on 31 October.

The Taiseido bookstore (left, below) was also closed, and Tsutaya (right, below) shortened its business hours to 8:00 p.m.

Over at the front of Shibuya Station, there were more signs, this time alerting passersby to the fact that the area around the Hachiko statue would be blocked off from 30 October to 1 November.

With so many signs and countermeasures being put in place by the government and businesses, it’s hoped that people won’t flout the rules here, but then again this was Halloween in the day, and not at night, when the problems tend to occur. For the past few nights, in fact, Seiji has seen an increased police presence in the neighbourhood.

Last night, a partition had been erected in the middle of the Center Gai entrance to control the flow of people, and it looked as if police were practicing for the following evening.

Despite the serious, controlled atmosphere, there were still quite a few people, both Japanese and foreigners, wearing costumes, and some kind of photo session was being held in front of the shuttered ABC-Mart.

With people gathering in costume on the eve of Halloween, it seems likely there’ll be more people arriving on the actual night of 31 October. Whether or not they will cause any trouble remains yet to be seen, but as a new resident of Shibuya, Seiji hopes he’ll be able to return safe from work tonight and that no problems or incidents will occur in the area.

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[ Read in Japanese ]