Shibuya

With Halloween falling on Saturday this year, Japanese cities are tightening rules to head off disruptive crowds.

Halloween is not a traditional Japanese festival but has grown into a major urban event, especially in Tokyo's Shibuya district, where costumed revelers pack the streets.

Street drinking, littering, and disturbances have become common, and concerns grew after a small truck was overturned there in 2018.

Shibuya now restricts street drinking, fines ¥2,000 for littering, and has covered up the famed dog statue of Hachiko.

Shinjuku, Nagoya, and Fukuoka are also tightening alcohol limits or access to crowded areas.

The peak crowd near Shibuya Center Gai shopping street fell from about 20,000 in 2024 to about 4,500 last year, partly due to rain.

Shibuya's mayor calls this year an important turning point.

A historic first in the world of shogi, Tomoka Nishiyama, holder of the Hakurei Women's title, will become the first female kishi or professional shogi player under the regular gender-neutral ranking system and will start competing in April.

Which beloved theme park attraction debuting at Disneyland in 1969 helped set the template for modern haunted houses with staged scares, elaborate sets, and Pepper's Ghost illusions? Question 5.

As Halloween leapt from the Anglophone world to the global stage, which country saw the holiday explode in popularity in the 1990s-2000s thanks to theme park events and city center costume crowds, especially in Tokyo's Shibuya district? We'll be right back with these answers after this break.

Welcome back! Question 1.

What Celtic festival is Halloween's ancestor? Answer, Samhain.

Which country's 1990s theme park push made Halloween boom? Answer, Japan.

Seasonal events at Tokyo Disneyland and later Universal Studios Japan helped popularize Halloween, which blended naturally with cosplay culture and retail promotions.

Shibuya's street celebrations now draw massive costumed crowds each year.

That concludes today's five daily trivia questions.

Yeah, I don't know.

Could be everyone sharing success, but when I was in Shibuya, what would be a little bit curious, like how did you end? Yeah, looking around, I think the typical work harder at was when you're done.

So once, okay, so, so, okay.

We'll have to come back to what is the chududah, what is the upmegirsa, but let's come back to the context of the gemara, because now let's plug it in.

Halloween provided publicly acceptable costume wearing outside conventions.

Shibuya District now hosts the world's largest Halloween gatherings.

Hundreds of thousands pack the streets, not for parades but to see and be seen costumed.

A massive spontaneous fashion show, salarymen as anime characters, office ladies as game heroines.

Halloween provided publicly acceptable costume wearing outside conventions.

Shibuya District now hosts the world's largest Halloween gatherings.

Hundreds of thousands pack the streets, not for parades but to see and be seen costumed.

A massive spontaneous fashion show, salarymen as anime characters, office ladies as game heroines.

We

filmed a video for this song in Japan in Shibuya, which if you've ever seen the videos of the big busy street crossing there.

We filmed a video for this song.

I don't know why it's got nothing to do with Japan.