HOW HALLOWEEN TOOK OFF IN JAPAN
Halloween is a recent invention in this part of the world. When I first came to Japan more than 20 years ago, few had even heard of it; pumpkins were for eating, not for decorating. A parade at Tokyo Disneyland, started in 1997, is often credited with popularising the celebration, giving partiers a reason to dress up.
Around 2011, young people in costumes began to assemble in Shibuya in the hundreds, and then the thousands, as Halloween approached. While overseas it might be considered more of an event for kids, in Japan it became something for university students and other young people, who drank in the streets while stumbling from bar to bar.
Why it took off when it did is a matter of debate. Some cite the rise of Facebook and Twitter, which grew in popularity in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of 2011 and the release of the movie The Social Network that same year. Others cite the Harajuku icon Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s song Fashion Monster, released in 2012, whose music video features a Halloween party.
Regardless, Shibuya was at the centre. And initially, authorities were on board: For several years in the mid-2010s, the city blocked off the main thoroughfare of Dogenzaka on multiple nights, freeing up the city centre to cosplaying pedestrians.
As a long-term resident of the area, there was something quite heartwarming about watching the event grow organically. Tokyoites don’t tend to interact much with strangers compared with, say, locals in Osaka; to see the one night a year when a group of costumed Super Marios could encounter a completely unfamiliar group of Luigis – and instantly become friends – was faintly magical.
But as the number of attendees peaked pre-pandemic, Shibuya began to lose patience. Bad press circulated when a small truck was overturned in 2018; the media highlighted reports of sexual harassment and other assaults, though serious incidents were limited.
Hasebe, the mayor, says the quality of the event has declined, even as the number of people increased to some 40,000 in 2019, with fewer attendees dressing up in costume, and more coming to gawk at (or ogle) those who did. That year, in an attempt to limit rambunctiousness, the city began asking stores to stop selling alcohol; drinking in the streets is perfectly legal in Japan, though Shibuya has passed a rather powerless local ordinance that limits it around Halloween and New Year’s Eve.