'Pedestrian paradise' to be suspended in Akihabara

Saturday 14th June, 05:15 AM JST

TOKYO —

The Tokyo Public Safety Council on Friday said the so-called “pedestrian paradise” in the Akihabara district on weekends will be suspended following last Sunday’s stabbing spree in which seven people were killed.

According to the council, local merchants and community organizations requested the suspension in the aftermath of the killings. The council said the suspension would be indefinite.

The pedestrian paradise was introduced in 1973. However, even before last Sunday’s attacks, locals had been complaining for some time about some of the sexually explicit photo events on the street.

Latest 15 of 43 Total Comments Show All

MichaelJP at 07:38 PM JST - 13th June

Opening the street for traffic to protect pedestrians is like having sex to prevent pregnancy.
electric2004 at 08:25 PM JST - 13th June

So, people going to a local matsuri have to be more careful from now.
kinniku at 08:44 PM JST - 13th June

Opening the street for traffic to protect pedestrians is like having sex to prevent pregnancy.

Except a lot less fun.
Zen_Builder at 09:03 PM JST - 13th June

Hope this will get rid of all the 5-story sex-shops and other pink industry places in the district. Plenty of which disguise themself as maid-something.

Crime In Akihabara has been on the rise in the last few years too, with guys mugging the otaku, tourists, etc.

I know lots of families that are weary to take small kids there due to those places and happenings gotten worse after the Tsukuba Express opened.

Most of my otaku friends stopped going to Akihabara years ago as it was getting over-run and turned into a tourist-trap.

Just my 2 yen worth.
kinniku at 09:07 PM JST - 13th June

Zen_Builder,

Respectfully, why don't they just go ahead and get rid of that stuff directly without affecting law-abiding citizens? Make the area safe-yes. Get rid of a pedestrian only area-why? I don't think the two have to be linked at all. Just get the police to stop people from doing nasty things where they shouldn't be.
meija at 09:10 PM JST - 13th June

As always, the politicians must be seen to do something, or face accusations from their competitors that they did nothing. Can't have that loss of face, can we? Of course, when there is something totally random like this, there is nothing the local politicians can do, so they always come up with hair-brained schemes like this one.

Now, the crazy guy intent on killing won't even have to get out of his truck to kill people, he'll be able to right in there with his truck and do a lot more damage. Great solution that. So well thought out. [/sarcasm]
Zen_Builder at 09:40 PM JST - 13th June

kinniku.

Because to a certain degree the Otaku are linked with the pink industry. Removing the pedestrian street will result in fewer Otaku going to Akihabara, which actually fits the goverments plans as they are turning Akihabara into a Show-case IT centre.

Lots of the buildings are old and scheduled to be torn down,many shops are closing as the owners are retiring, so the Otaku/Anime and pink shops moved in as they live on short-term leases. In short they want the whole district to be like the Yodobashi Camera side.

Similar stuff happened in Nakano Broadway (another Otaku centre/actually pre-dates akihabara).

HTH.
Beelzebub at 09:41 PM JST - 13th June

A typical overreaction. It's obvious that the authorities fear copycat crime above all else. In fact, last Sunday's crime was a copycat too. Who knows what else they will wind up banning in the effort to prevent recurrences.
kinniku at 10:22 PM JST - 13th June

Because to a certain degree the Otaku are linked with the pink industry. Removing the pedestrian street will result in fewer Otaku going to Akihabara

Thanks for the response! However, why not get rid of the pink industry in the area itself. It seems that would do a lot more to get rid of the "otaku" you are referring to than getting rid of the pedestrian street. If the businesses still exist, what difference does it make to "otaku" whether there is a pedestrian area or not.

If the government wants to change the area from a pink industry area to an IT area (which would certainly be safer), they still don't need to take away the pleasure of no traffic in the area.
badge123 at 11:02 PM JST - 13th June

In the end, it makes no sense, because now you just crowd the sidewalks even more people. What next, are they going to close Shibuya crossing?
Sarge at 11:08 PM JST - 13th June

"What next, are they going to close Shibuya crossing?"

Just as soon as some wacko kills some people there.
ka_chan at 03:34 AM JST - 14th June

Well now if you rent a truck to mow down people, you will be very successful and no reason to resort to a knife. If I remember right, the sidewalk is wide enough for a car or small trunk and there are guard rail for protection from the street. Yep, just like bowling with a ball as wide as the alley.
The Otaku were going to Akihabara before the pink industry and openning the street just means no street performers. BTW, I think there is more pink industry in Ueno and Ikebukuro than Akihabara. If they want to get rid of the pink industry, they should do what they did in Edo; reserve a district.
Zen_Builder at 03:54 AM JST - 14th June

I would say the level of the Pink Industry is about the same in Ikebukuro and Akihabara, except that in ikebukuro it has it's own little "kabukicho" as do many other stations.

Many areas are changing now Ikebukuro(otaku-centre for ladies) will soon get the Tokyo China-Town, Okubo already is the new Korean-town, etc.

OTOH, if I wanted to kill a lot of people using a truck I would choose areas like Kichijoji's Sunroad, Nakano(Mall up to the Boulevard), etc or any other heavily crowded shopping street.

Anoterh problem with the pink industries is that they are not illegal perse, so the goverment can do little to prevent them from opening.

Example: The kabukicho in Kichijoji, local goverment is trying to get rid of it and does so by opening muncipial places, etc whenever a building gets torn down. Why because according to the law you can't operate such a business within a certain distance of a goverment run establishment/building. This is the reason why the public library is where it is.

As for the closing of the Pedestrian Paradise, I don't think it is suck a big loss.
Zen_Builder at 04:24 AM JST - 14th June

Hmm, the Mainichi daily reports that the suspesnion most likely is short-term only and that the "Pedestrians Paradise" will be back in July pending a further decision.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080613p2a00m0na016000c.html
kaoken at 01:29 AM JST - 16th June

Wow I don't know how it's gonna affect the locals, but even I know this is one of the worse ways to go about this.