After the tragic and fatal Halloween crowd crush that occured in Seoul last year, Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, which has increasingly become a go-to spot for Halloween parties—often with dangerous consequences—is taking preemptive measures to discourage people from congregating in their ward later this month. Teaming up with art director Koichi Kosugi, this week Shibuya released a massive visual campaign to broadcast their message.
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Shibuya’s message is loud and clear: “no events for halloween on Shibuya streets.” And that message is amplified thanks to the creativity of Koichi Kosugi, who used the first kanji of Shibuya (渋) and interpreted it as an X: a global symbol for NO.
There’s more to this brilliant logo though. By adding the X, the top radical of the kanji becomes isolated, creating the standalone kanji for ‘stop’: 止.
Those thinking that the campaign is all talk, think again. The posters have already begun appearing around Shibuya, along with an increased police presence. And from October 27th – 31st, Shibuya is banning alcohol consumption on streets and in public spaces around Shibuya Station.
For all the zombies and ghouls planning to descend upon Shibuya for Halloween, consider yourself warned.
October 21, 2023 at 5:56 pm
All the Halloween’ners will simply go to Roppongi – and create even bigger problems there
October 21, 2023 at 6:51 pm
I was here for the Halloween tragedy in Itaewon and few months ago I happened to pass through the area unintentionally. The space seemed kind of tight when I walked through it. It takes death tragedy for people to act (like always). I was around for the WHO concert tragedy in the 70’s. It shook the very fiber in the US for decades. Having lived in SK for a long time – buildings go up super fast but they forget about safety which they don’t seem to take seriously. It’s when the deaths pile up is when they act but super slowly…why? Because Koreans don’t like to spend money on frivolous things. Hence the Itaewon tragedy. In the US they would breaking laws with spatial capacity…where in the US they’ve limits like ’50 people’ and will have demarcations but in Korea I saw none.
October 22, 2023 at 7:55 am
Why don’t the authorities embrace this and have an organized Hallowe’en parade – like the New York Village Parade?