Why do people gather in Shibuya on Halloween? Since when? What happened in the past and what will happen in 2023?

Something strange is happening at Shibuya Halloween. The head of the local government has issued an unusual message saying, ``Please do not come to the area around Shibuya Station for Halloween,'' and the city is taking the ``largest-ever security precaution.''

In the background, we can see similarities with the troubles that have spread rapidly due to the coronavirus pandemic and with Itaewon, South Korea, where a catastrophe occurred last year. We interviewed Shibuya Halloween to find out why it has become so huge.

(Metropolitan Area Bureau/Reporter Toshiyuki Mano, Director Hideyuki Hayashi).``Netadori!'', which covers the nights of Shibuya Center Street, which is full of street drinkers, will be broadcast until November 3rd.Shibuya Halloween attracts tens of thousands of people just around the scramble crossing in front of the station. Problems have often occurred in the past.

Five years ago, on October 28, an incident occurred in which a truck was overturned by drunken youths.
The following year, there were a number of arrests for assault and molestation.

Daisuke Suzuki, executive director of the Shibuya Center Shopping District Promotion Association, is concerned that this year, when a large number of people are expected to turn out, ``this could lead to a catastrophe.''

We clean shopping streets every morning, but since the new coronavirus reached Category 5 this year, the amount of trash left by people drinking on the streets has increased rapidly. The amount is increasing day by day, and it takes two hours every day to collect it.

It is said that alcohol bottles are frequently broken into pieces.

Halloween scene in 1983

At the time of its opening, there was a housing facility for the US military in Japan nearby, so it actively incorporated American culture. Under such circumstances, he started a Halloween event to entertain children overseas.

After that, Halloween spread throughout Japan as an event sponsored by theme parks and local shopping districts.

On the other hand, Shibuya's Halloween event is said to have different characteristics from these other events. The point is that tens of thousands of people gather spontaneously without a central organizer.