"Don't come to Shibuya for Halloween," ward mayor delivers early message to would-be revelers

Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe on Tuesday for the first time called on those people thinking of visiting Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward to celebrate Halloween this year to change their mind and stay away from the area. 

The mayor held an earlier-than-usual press conference to announce measures for controlling potential Halloween revelers in Shibuya Ward.

Citing the sharp increase in foreign tourists and visitors following the lifting of coronavirus travel restrictions as well as a continuing culture of drinking on the streets of Shibuya which took root prior to the pandemic, the mayor expressed a sense of urgency in wanting to get the message out that Shibuya should not be considered a venue for celebrating Halloween.  

“If I have to say it strongly, I don't want people to come to the Shibuya station area for Halloween,” Hasebe told reporters.

The message marks a shift in stance for the Shibuya authorities who, while they have in previous years been keen to stress that there is no such thing as an official and organized Shibuya Halloween event, have stopped short of telling revelers that they are not welcome, instead calling on them to be considerate and well behaved.

“This year, however, I want to spread the message to the world that Shibuya is not a venue for Halloween events,” Hasebe said. 

The mayor also made reference to the stampede that occurred during Halloween festivities in the South Korean capital of Seoul in 2022 which left more than 150 people dead, saying that he was very concerned that a similar situation could occur at any time.

The authorities will likely face a challenge in keeping people away from Shibuya however, an area which has become so synonymous with Halloween festivities, albethey unofficial.  

During Halloween last year, the first since the lifting of virus-related restrictions across Japan, while Shibuya saw fewer cosplayers than usual, large numbers of visitors still turned up to witness the spectacle, around 70 percent of whom were foreigners, according to Hasebe. 

“As the mayor, it is very hard for me to tell people not to come to the area, but I feel that I have no choice but to do so when I consider people’s safety first,” Hasebe said as he called on the media to spread his message not only within in Japan, but also overseas. 

Despite the call for people not to come and celebrate Halloween in Shibuya, Hasebe and the authorities appear to be getting prepared for that eventuality, once again bringing back a ban on street drinking and continuing to ask for the cooperation from local retailers to refrain from selling alcohol during the Halloween period.