Shibuya Boards Up Hachiko and Curbs Drinking for Saturday Halloween

Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (file photo, Oct. 28, 2023). Halloween crowds near Shibuya Station, with that year’s enclosure around the Hachiko statue.

Tokyo’s Shibuya ward boarded up the Hachiko statue, closed streets and asked dozens of shops to stop selling alcohol as Shibuya Halloween fell on a Saturday for the first time in six years on Oct. 31. By Saturday evening in Tokyo, costumed crowds packed the area around Shibuya Station while police steered people through the famous scramble crossing, Japanese broadcasters and newspapers reported.

The ward is running the campaign under the English slogan “GOODBYE BAD HALLOWEEN,” Nippon TV reported. Shibuya’s message to visitors is blunt. “Shibuya is not a town for partying all night on Halloween,” Mayor Ken Hasebe said at a Sept. 30 news conference, according to the Sankei Shimbun (translated from Japanese).

How Shibuya is controlling the Halloween crowds

The ward’s plan, announced Sept. 30, covers two nights. Security guards are working from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, about 180 guard shifts in total, alongside about 70 shifts of ward employees who warn people against street drinking, smoking and selling alcohol on the street, the Sankei reported. For Saturday night alone, Nippon TV said about 120 guards would be deployed around the station from about 7 p.m., and the Mainichi Shimbun put the ward’s two-day cost at about 74 million yen.

Other steps, according to the Sankei:

• The Hachiko statue in front of the station is enclosed from Oct. 30 until 5 p.m. on Nov. 1 so crowds don’t gather there.
• Sixty-two stores nearby were asked to stop selling alcohol from 6 p.m. Saturday until 5 a.m. Sunday.
• Ports for the LUUP and Lime electric scooter and bike-share services, 26 in total, are closed from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. on both nights.
• Multilingual posters and animated videos on street screens explain the rules to overseas visitors.

Some businesses are closing early. Miyashita Park and its Starbucks shut at noon on Saturday, the RAYARD MIYASHITA PARK shopping complex at 6 p.m., and SHIBUYA TSUTAYA by the station at 7 p.m., Shibuya Keizai Shimbun reported.

Road closures and the drinking ban

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Shibuya station announced vehicle closures around the station from the evening of Friday, Oct. 30, until early Sunday, Nov. 1, with possible checkpoints on streets including Inokashira-dori and Dogenzaka. Parking meters around the station are suspended all day. By Saturday afternoon, cars were barred between the scramble crossing and the Miyamasuzaka-shita intersection, Nippon TV said.

Drinking on the street is not a Halloween-only rule. Under an ordinance amendment that took effect Oct. 1, 2024, drinking in public places such as streets and parks near Shibuya Station is banned year-round from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., the ward says. Since June 2026, the ward has also collected a 2,000 yen fine (about $13) for littering. On Saturday, about 40 patrol workers, more than usual, were collecting those fines, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday night.

By the numbers: why the ward is worried

The peak crowd around Center-Gai, the shopping street near the station that is a main gathering spot, fell from about 20,000 on Halloween 2024 to about 4,500 in 2025, partly because of rain, Kyodo News reported. That is a drop of about 78%, by TBR’s calculation. The Mainichi said the ward is planning for crowds on the scale of 2024 this year, with a Saturday Halloween.

Problems at the street parties grew sharper after revelers overturned a small truck in Shibuya during the 2018 celebrations, Kyodo said. “I hope Shibuya’s Halloween fever is gradually dying down. This year is an important turning point,” Hasebe told the agency.

What happened Saturday night

By about 6 p.m. Saturday, people dressed as characters crowded the scramble crossing and stopped to take smartphone photos while the police department’s “DJ Police,” officers who use loudspeakers to keep crowds moving, told them not to stand still, the Yomiuri reported. TBS said police had deployed several hundred officers. As of this report, Japanese media had not reported any arrests or a final crowd count.

Other Japanese cities tighten rules, and Boston’s Halloween

Shibuya is not alone. Tokyo’s Shinjuku district is also tightening restrictions, Kyodo reported. Nagoya has closed parts of a downtown commercial complex at night on Halloween since 2021, after fights and thefts, and plans to do so again. “I understand the desire to celebrate, but I want people to refrain from gathering in one place and causing a commotion,” Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa said. In Fukuoka, entry to Kego Park in the Tenjin entertainment district has been restricted after 5 p.m. since Tuesday, Oct. 27.

For Halloween closer to home, see our guide to Salem’s Halloween trains, drone show and rules , our report on Boston’s car-free Spooky Streets and our coverage of a Halloween crackdown in Tehran.

Sources

• Nippon TV (Japanese): Shibuya on alert for first Saturday Halloween in six years
• Sankei Shimbun (Japanese): Shibuya ward announces Halloween measures
• Kyodo News: Shibuya and other Japanese cities tighten Halloween measures
• Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Shibuya station (Japanese): Halloween traffic measures
• Shibuya City (Japanese): Ordinance on street drinking near Shibuya Station
• Yomiuri Shimbun (Japanese): Shibuya packed with costumed crowds; DJ Police deployed

Additional sources

• Mainichi Shimbun (Japanese): Shibuya says no to “nuisance Halloween”
• Shibuya Keizai Shimbun (Japanese): Early closings around Shibuya Station
• TBS News Dig (Japanese): Police on high alert in Shibuya