Halloween fell on a Saturday this year for the first time in six years. In Shibuya, where crowds turning violent has long been a social problem, the Hachiko statue was draped in a cover, street drinking was banned and traffic was restricted. Reports said the tightened enforcement left the district with no notable trouble this year.
In Ikebukuro, social media users have begun complaining that public order is getting worse. Some also say people have been flowing into Shinjuku for several years, pushed there by heavier policing in Shibuya.
Costumed crowds and cameras
The complaints point to cosplayers wearing more revealing costumes, and to foreign tourists filming them without permission. The item does not say how many such reports there were or where in Ikebukuro they occurred.
That the Halloween crowd simply relocates when one district tightens its rules is the thread running through the complaints. Shibuya's measures were reported as a success; the cost, according to the posts, may be landing on the next ward over.