Thousands of Halloween revelers descend on Shibuya

Thousands of Halloween revelers descend on Shibuya

Some fantastic photos accompanying this article.  Looks like a lot of fun had by everyone but the 200 riot cops.  But they might have secretly enjoyed it, too.  I'd like to think that.  "We're here in case anyone gets out of hand, but we also get to see a lot of party people in crazy costumes, so there's that."

I didn't read any alarmist stories about foreigners running wild on the Yamanote Line this year.  Maybe some Japanese-language newspapers ran them or I just overlooked the ones in the English-language news sites I visit.  Whatever the reason, it's been a refreshing change.  I'm in favor of any excuse for wearing costumes and dancing and I don't want a few bad candy apples spoiling the fun for the rest of us.  Even if I didn't participate.  I enjoy the potential for participation.  Next year, right?  Next year I'm going to go all out.  In a safe way everyone can enjoy.

It's probably better to watch where you're going...

Here's a fun article on RocketNews24 about the groundbreaking work NTT DoCoMo is doing in laboratory simulations of the potential for disaster at the Shibuya scramble caused by NTT DoCoMo's products.  Or those of any smartphone provider, to be fair.  Mathematical chaos.  These kinds of things really tickle me.  It must have been pretty fun for the DoCoMo researchers, too.

We do spend a lot of time eyeballing our phones here.  Not just Japanese people, but ex-pats like me as well.  I don't do this while walking, though.  If I'm using maps on my iPhone for navigation, I find an out-of-the-way place along the sidewalk to stop and orient myself.  If I receive a message, I usually wait until I'm sitting down somewhere to check it.  But I have, on rare occasions, walked and phone-gaped, too.  I'm not proud of it.

Never at the Shibuya scramble, though.

Shibuya Station 2008

I discovered today my experimental films about Tokyo have long ago been deleted from the Internet. Here's a video of Shinjuku Station I made in May, 2008.