Banana benders

800 riot police and one arrest? Over kill?

I am a Japanese but there are many things I cannot understand about the phenomenons of Japan and this is one of them. Maybe we are not very much original people and jump to anything which they think interesting and copy them without deep thinking. Some remain and some disappear.

Prior prevention ......give the cops credit, where credit is due. Hell with the mess they had last year it is hard to blame them for the numbers of officers they put on the street.

@yubaru there were only row arrests last year

Always complaints... everybody want to profit from halloween and then they have to complain because people do unusual things. I'm so fed up with this attitude...

@Schoipenhauer: Japan is based on a consumeristic economy, which means pushing people to do and buy anything, particularly what they do not really need. Plus, here, people like to do what others do and if you don't follow the others, you are pushed to feel the back sheep... so, like it or not, you have Halloween. Frankly I do not understand it either, we do not have it in Italy and we do not dress up and act like this even on Carnival. I suspect that people simply need fun and is somewhat unsatisfied of what/who they do and are and need to evade. And living in Tokyo, I can understand that pretty well: it is a compromise life. True world and life is everywhere but here. ;-)

Two arrests last year

Many Japanese loves 'cosplay'. With some push from businesses who want to make extra money, it should not be surprised that Halloween has become so popular in Japan. Also people loves to have a bit of fun.

A big thumb up for the police. Also one for the well behaved revelers. Setup up tents for people to get changed is also a nice move.

I think the peaceful crowd, including the foreigners that the police were on the lookout for, shoukd be commended. I still think the money spent on 800 riot police was wasted.

Halloween is popular in Japan, because all those kids who had halloween parties at their eikaiwa and with ALTs in the '90s and '00s are old enough to drink and party now.

It's good that the cops were out to prevent any issues, but also give credit to the Japanese police that they didn't take this as an opportunity to look for problems and arrest anyone they could for anything they could as would happen in a lot of western countries. They were obviously there to keep things from getting out of hand if they started to go crazy.

" I still think the money spent on 800 riot police was wasted."

sillygirl: I agree. It's an overreaction to something Japanese authorities can't seem to understand.

Hopped on Saikyo Line from Itabashi & train was full reveler heading to Shibuya. Shibuya was off the chain las night. Difficult to move around though. Impressive spectacle. Kudos to all the people who were there las nite to celebrate Halloween.

And doing so responsibly. Only 1 arrest. Tokyo metro police ought to be scratching their heads for their overstaffed response. Btw, my head is still spinning.

"I still think the money spent on 800 riot police was wasted."

Abe recently announced the pressing need for cuts in the govt's spending budget. One of the very few exemptions he cited was law enforcement.

So next year, expect 1,000. In a decade, expect the number of cops on duty to be on par with the party-goers, if the trend continues.

Considering there were few problems, and almost no arrests, I don't see what the problem with so many police is.

Did anyone catch the party @PARCO, Shibuya?

I was heading down to Shibuya until I saw the Live coverage on the news. It couldn't have been much fun when you are packed in like sardines. No thank you. Friday night looked much better to enjoy because at least you could have walked around.