It’s Halloween in Shibuya, but not as we’ve known it

Call it the come down from a fantastic Rugby World Cup semi-final but as we spilled out from the sports bar onto the streets of Shibuya just in time on Saturday night for the ward’s now annual, and recently notorious, Halloween block party something felt different from previous years.

“Well, this is depressing,” remarked a young foreign man dressed as a Jesus Christ-like figure as he walked past a row of armor-plated police vehicles lining Dougen-Zaka, near to the Shibuya 109 department store, perhaps on his way toward the Tokyo entertainment hub’s famous Hachiko crossing.

There can be no doubt, Halloween in Shibuya on Saturday night did have something of a dystopian feel to it courtesy of a visibly increased police and security presence.

Of course, the famous “DJ police” were present, directing foot traffic about the area’s famous scramble crossing but you get the sense that the friendly moniker is less appreciated this time around.

As one curious couple remarked while waiting behind a police cordon to navigate the crossing, “They’re really not messing around, are they?”

Not if the way the Halloween crowds were filed neatly from one side of the crossing to the other, is any indication. No chance then of any giddy YouTubers or student types breaking out into a pillow fight in the middle of the street.  

Yes, that happens in Shibuya but is more likely seen as little more than a source of irritation but it’s the escalation of such pranks during the Halloween season in Shibuya into those that have caused damage to property that have forced the hand of authorities and locals to take action.

It seems the final straw might have been the overturning of a truck in the thick of the Halloween crowds in Shibuya in 2018. News outlets and a horrified and baffled eldery public poured over the footage and in January this year 10 men, foreigners among them, were referred to prosecutors over the incident.  

A few months later in June, the Shibuya Ward assembly approved ordinance banning the consumption of alcohol on some of Shibuya’s streets during Halloween (and New Year).

The same ordinance also called on restaurants and stores to refrain from serving alcohol to customers. And it seems at least some establishments are playing ball, with one convenience store near Shibuya 109 department store on Saturday having closed off shelves normally stocked with alcoholic drinks.

(Sign covers the shelves where alcoholic drinks are normally sold in a convenience store in Tokyo's Shibuya ward)

Quite how effective the ordinance will prove over the course of the Halloween parties remains to be seen but just a block away we found alcoholic drinks being served in another convenience store, and the draft beers were flowing for fans watching the rugby just a short walk from the Halloween action. 

As one female Japanese rugby fan in their 30s watching the semi-final in a bar in Shibuya told us, though, “The city just wants to show the rest of Japan that they’re making an effort to do something about it. And really, the main issue is the amount of trash being left behind the next morning”

Still, on Saturday night the crowd that typically gathers outside the Mega Don Quijote store on Bunkamura-Dori, northwest of Shibuya Station, appeared thinner than usual, the store being one of many asked by the city to refrain from selling alcoholic drinks.

Police and security personnel were also doing their bit to keep the festive foot traffic flowing, not only patrolling on the ground but stationed on elevated platforms located at typical Halloween-in-Shibuya bottleneck points, particularly in and around the narrow shopping streets of Shibuya Center-Gai. 

From their lofty perches officers and security personnel issued calls through megaphones for the crowds to not stand and linger, while scrolling LED displays by their feet warned others of the dangers of drones. 

(Not just local politics playing out during Halloween in Shibuya in 2019)

Not that the Halloween cosplayers weren’t out in Shibuya on Saturday night -- Shibuya Center-Gai was suitably crowded with the usual mob of zombie SWAT teams, characters from Mario Kart and ghoulish nurses -- but this year, or on Saturday at least, they seemed to have no place to go, instead forced into a wandering circuit of the city. Perhaps until they got too tired or too bored and decided to go home?

Halloween in Shibuya then, but maybe not quite as we've known it in the past.  Although perhaps that's because it isn't actually Halloween yet.