Tokyo’s famous scramble crossing district came alive with hilarious, sexy, cute and genius outfits for Halloween.
Every year, locals and foreign visitors gather around Shibuya for what’s recently become Tokyo’s biggest unofficial outdoor Halloween event. Held on the weekend closest to Halloween, thousands of people come together to see and be seen while strutting their stuff in a variety of costumes to celebrate the spooky holiday, and this weekend was the biggest turnout yet, with approximately 70,000 people in the vicinity on Saturday night alone.
Videos and photos from the weekend show just how many people came out for the street party, and all the weird and wonderful outfits that came with them.
▼ There were zombie elementary schoolgirls…
▼ Zombie high school girls…
▼ Zombie brides…
▼ And Ronald McDonalds.
There were plenty of nurses, cops and SWAT team members keeping an eye on the crowd.
And Power Rangers were also there to look after citizens, though they were seen taking a time-out from Power Ranging.
▼ Mario girls, Coca-Cola girls, and Minions also made an appearance.
Winnie the Pooh could be seen surrounded by bodyguards, like Chinese President Xi Jipeng, who’s said to bear an uncanny likeness to the honey-loving bear.
The ever-popular maid’s outfits were on display in a number of different styles and colours.
And a SoraNews24 favourite, Where’s Wally, was also out in force. Looking much better than Mr Sato and his pals did last year.
Dressing to fit in with your friends is one of the deciding factors for Japanese women when choosing a Halloween costume, according to this survey from last year.
Plenty of women dressed alike in a group, like these girls who came as members of pop idol band Keyakizaka46.
▼ And these zombie jailbirds.
Some of the Halloween costumes seemed easy to put together, like these men who simply donned ZOZO suits. It’s safe to say Mr Sato wouldn’t be impressed with their costumes, seeing as he’s worn a ZOZO suit around Shinjuku on a regular weekday.
▼ Other outfits, though, appeared to take a lot more time and imagination.
▼ Check out Pennywise, from Stephen King’s It, peeping out from the drain!
Pennywise-like clowns were the inspiration for other costumes on the street as well.
This Ikea outfit is a brilliant take on the IKEA shopping bag craze that rocked the world of high fashion last year, when Balenciaga brought out their own US$2,000 version of the 99-cent bag.
For some partygoers, Halloween was the perfect time to reveal their flesh in some skimpy outfits.
Others turned heads with their crossplay skills. Is that you, Naomi Osaka?
Sazae-san, as she appears in the original anime and not the Nissin noodle ad that aired last year.
▼ Even dogs got into the Halloween spirit.
▼ And free hugs were offered to everyone…even gorillas.
There were some very Japanese outfits in the mix, with maiko shrine maidens appearing with and without some classic umaibo snacks.
Japanese courtesans were spotted with a handful of Kikis from the Ghibli anime film Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Characters from anime favourites like Spirited Away and Sailor Moon came out to play.
▼ As did Aska and Rei from Evangelion…
▼ And Misa, Light, Ryukyu, and L from Death Note.
In amongst the crazy crowds and partygoers was this dummy-sucking Pikachu, who became the centre of attention and won Halloween for many this year.
With October 31 yet to roll around in Japan, it’s not time to put away those Halloween costumes just yet! Despite landing on a weekday, the last day of the month will still draw some crowds to the Shibuya area, so provided that officials don’t put a ban on the event, we should be seeing more costumes in the area shortly.
Source: Instagram
Featured image: Instagram/camera.an