A crowd of onlookers watched as he fell off the bed after his stunt.
Every day, half a million people are said to cross at Shibuya’s famous scramble crossing, making it one of the busiest intersections in the world. In fact, every time the pedestrian lights turn green, up to 3,000 people make the journey across the intersecting roads here, and with the lights changing after approximately a minute, there’s not a lot of time to stop and admire the scenery from the middle of the crossing.
Still, some people will do everything they can to get the perfect shot from this iconic Tokyo location, and one Japanese YouTuber had a plan in mind to grab everyone’s attention, by getting carried out onto the crossing in a bed and taking a snooze in it.
The YouTuber, known as Joe from the JoeVlog [Crazy Challenger] YouTube channel, is known for his crazy stunts, but people are now questioning whether his Shibuya scramble crossing video went too far, with panelists on Japanese television shows slamming the act as irresponsible and dangerous.
While the video, which was uploaded on 28 March, can still be viewed on YouTube, this tweet shows the main part of the clip, including the moment he falls at the end.
The video shows Joe dressed in pyjamas, carrying a bed through the crowded streets of Shibuya with three of his friends. Once they reach the crossing, they dash out onto the road, carrying the bed with Joe on it, and then leave him on his own as he pretends to sleep while thousands of people walk past him.
As the lights begin to change, his friends pick the bed up with Joe on it and run to the sidewalk, but then one of them trips, sending Joe spilling out of the bed and onto the road before they eventually make it over to the other side.
With close to 1.4 million subscribers, Joe’s clip has received over a million views on YouTube, but the 6,700 likes and 57,000 dislikes reveal that most people aren’t happy about the stunt.
“This is the reason I detest YouTubers.”
“What a stupid and irresponsible act.”
“He should keep his pyjamas on and spend a night in a Shibuya police cell.”
“Why are idiots always drawn to Shibuya?”
“This reminds me of the students who were arrested and fined for setting up a kotatsu in the middle of the road in Kyoto.”
It’s true that this stunt bears some similarities to the incident in Kyoto last year, when students huddled around a low kotatsu table as vehicles passed by them. Tokyo Metropolitan Police say they are now looking into what happened at Shibuya Crossing to determine whether Joe’s group committed a traffic offence by obstructing the passage of pedestrians.
Source: NHK News via Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Twitter/@p_y_o_n_JOKER
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