Halloween in Shibuya: Lots of celebration, a little chaos
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Halloween, though not traditionally celebrated in Japan, has ballooned to become a mega event for the country in recent years and is particularly popular with young people.
Shibuya - one of Tokyo's busiest district- is the core of the celebrations, where Japanese and foreigners alike dress up, some in elaborate and outrageous costumes to flood the streets and celebrate the occasion.
An article by Yuka Nakao ran by The Japan Times said that 70,000 people visited the district on Halloween in 2015, and numbers have increased in the years since.
It added that 7.8 tons of garbage was collected last year in Shibuya alone following the holiday.
This year, a number of volunteers were spotted on Thursday morning (Nov 1) cleaning up the area's streets. Some volunteers were those who had partied the night before, still dressed in their costumes.
This came after a frenzied Halloween celebration on Wednesday saw 13 men in the district arrested.
According to a Kyodo news report, the men, who were arrested on suspicion for various crimes that took place over Wednesday and early Thursday, ranged from teenagers to men in their 40s.
One man had allegedly groped a woman dressed in costume.
Another allegedly pick-pocketed a wallet with 170,000 yen (S$2,076) inside, while one man stole from a clothing store.
A man also hit a riot policeman and was arrested on the spot.
To add to the chaos, a fire broke out at a building near a police box on Center-gai street, one of Shibuya's most well-known and frequented spots.
According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, the fire broke out at around 6pm on Wednesday from the second floor of the building to its rooftop. The city's fire department took around one and a half hours to put out the fire. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Shibuya's Mayor Ken Hasebe said in an interview with local news: "Halloween is not an event anymore, it's just chaos now. From next year on, we have to take measures to tackle the Halloween night chaos."
