Comment: Why Tokyo’s youth culture district bans ‘nuisance Halloween'

Tokyo's Shibuya district, which has long been known as the centre of youth culture in Japan, has once again moved to restrict its Halloween street celebrations. A mayoral edict against so-called "Nuisance Halloween" has led to a series of strict measures in recent years, including a public drinking ban, to curb rowdy behaviour.

This draconian edge echoes Japan's wider turn under its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. She placed an emphasis on the tighter control of public space and activities during her leadership campaign, citing the need for a "strict response to law-breaking foreigners".

A decade ago, Halloween in Shibuya acted as a shop window for "Cool Japan", a state-sponsored initiative to leverage the cool dimensions of Japanese culture internationally. Huge costume-clad crowds filled the famous Shibuya crossing, one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, in a spontaneous celebration that aligned global youth culture with Tokyo's urban vibrancy.

Since then, however, the mood has shifted among the levels of government that make up the world's largest metropolis. Shibuya mayor, Ken Hasebe, has repeatedly urged partygoers - especially tourists - not to gather for Halloween. And to discourage problematic behaviour, he has reinforced bans on public drinking and has asked retailers to halt alcohol sales.

The turning point came in 2018, when a group of Halloween revellers overturned a truck near the Shibuya crossing. The incident drew national criticism and led to the arrest of four people after CCTV analysis.

One year later, Shibuya introduced a public drinking ban around Halloween and New Year's Eve. This was the first formal restriction on a largely unregulated gathering that had, until then, enjoyed the endorsement of city leaders as part of nascent branding efforts.

A critical international reference point was provided in 2022, when a crowd crush during Halloween festivities in the Itaewon nightlife district of Seoul, the South Korean capital, killed 159 people. Shibuya has experienced no comparable incidents, but Mayor Hasebe has frequently cited Itaewon when pleading with revellers not to crowd the streets. He has framed his actions as necessary to avoid a similar outcome.

By 2024, permanent nighttime bans on public drinking had been introduced in parts of Shibuya. This was followed by further tightening. Alcohol sales were restricted by stores during Halloween nights, smoking areas were closed, street layouts were altered to disrupt crowd flow, and security patrols were expanded.

On Halloween in 2025, electric scooter and e-bike services will also be suspended at various lending and return ports near the busiest areas. What was once an organic, globally visible gathering has gradually been managed, discouraged and hollowed out.

Cities worldwide are confronting similar tension. But rather than taking steps to restrict such activity outright, many have sought to govern it more strategically.

Amsterdam pioneered the office of "night mayor" in 2012 to balance divergent interests in the European nightlife capital. London then adopted a similar concept through its own "night czar", while New York City has established an office of nightlife to manage late-night culture as a policy domain rather than a policing issue.

Shibuya itself was once in the vanguard of this approach. The district appointed Japanese hip-hop artist Zeebra as its nightlife ambassador in 2016, promoting a vision of curated and responsible nighttime activity. The current Halloween deterrence strategy marks a distinct shift from integration to avoidance.

Changing political climate

Japan's changing national political climate gives this local pivot a deeper resonance. Takaichi, Japan's much-vaunted first female prime minister, places a heavy emphasis on social order. She has called for stronger policing and the protection of national identity amid rising tourism and migration.

While Shibuya's nightlife policies are not enacted by the national government, they echo a broader shift in Japan that connects perceived disorder - particularly associated with foreigners - to a need for proactive control.

This marks a sharp break from the "Cool Japan" era of the 2000s and 2010s, when informal street culture and youth-led cultural imagery were keenly leveraged as soft power. As a place where tourists could briefly participate in Japanese cultural life, Shibuya was emblematic of that openness. The same phenomenon has now been reclassified as a possible threat.

It is important to acknowledge the real risks associated with urban crowd management. Itaewon demonstrated how a carnival atmosphere can turn fatal in minutes. However, when safety messaging merges with narratives about public order and foreign influence, urban regulation risks drifting from crowd management headlong into cultural gate-keeping.

Tokyo is not alone in restricting elements of nightlife when public tolerance is exceeded. Amsterdam has cracked down on what it calls "disruptive tourism", while Barcelona has sought to curb late-night street gatherings that disrupt neighbourhood life. But Japan's trajectory appears distinct in that it is not working toward new models of managed coexistence between nightlife, residents and visitors.

Shibuya's response may also set a precedent for other urban hubs in Japan. This sits uneasily alongside national ambitions to attract more tourists, recruit foreign workers and draw international talent at a time of population decline and near-zero birthrates.

Japan now faces a dilemma: can it afford to retreat from culturally open public spaces at the very moment it needs to appear more welcoming on the world stage? The Halloween crackdown reflects a polarising governance choice - not just about public safety, but about what kind of society Japan wishes to project to the outside world.

Andrew Stevens, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS), Newcastle University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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