Halloween is a holiday, which many people of all ages look forward to celebrating. In the United States, children in costumes go door to door happily saying “trick or treat” in the hopes of receiving their favorite sweets from the neighbors. However, this concept of trick or treating is almost non-existent in Japan. Sure, there are shopping arcades that may have set up to do trick or treating at the different shops, but other than that it is a holiday mostly for teenagers and adults.
In Japan, Halloween is a time to dress up and go party at a bar. The weekends of October are filled with events for people to parade around in their costumes and have fun. There are usually no haunted houses popping up. It is a time for enjoyment rather than being frightened. The theme parks decorate their establishment in Halloween themes.
On October 31st one of the places to go to is the Shibuya Crossing. In recent years, the popularity of dressing up and going to a bar spilled into the streets and created an unofficial gathering of Halloween celebrants. In 2016, the police were involved in closing the streets to cars in order to prevent traffic incidents.
This year, even though Halloween landed on a weekday, Shibuya was packed with people enjoying the merriment of the holiday. As the streets filled with onlookers and costumed individuals, everyone was directed by the flow of traffic. Areas away from the crossing had room for people to breathe and stop to take a picture. Still it was a great night to take photos and wander around Shibuya.
