Police kill the party vibe at this tourist hotspot, but the city still has its problems.

For most locals, Tokyo’s Shibuya scramble crossing is simply a place to cross the street. In the eyes of visitors, however, the bright lights and buzz of the crowds makes it an exciting place to hang out, especially on big occasions like Halloween and New Year’s Eve.

The city isn’t too happy about the unofficial street parties, though, and so has been clamping down on festivities by setting up strict rules and restrictions in an effort to keep people away from the area. With restrictions seeming stricter every year, we were curious to find out what the situation was like before sun-up on New Year’s Day, and luckily for us, our reporter Seiji Nakazawa happens to live in Shibuya, so although he decided to steer clear of the area during the countdown to midnight, he found himself stopping by on his way home at around 2 a.m. on 1 January.

After leaving the station and exiting at Hachiko Square, the first thing that caught his eye was…

▼ …loads of barricades and police officers.

This was far from the joyous, celebratory New Year’s scene he’d hoped for, and as he continued walking past Hachiko Square, he began to feel worn down by the incessant sound of police officers shouting through their megaphones. It gave the place an unnerving, dystopian feel, as if something serious was about to occur and the authorities were doing their utmost to prevent whatever it was from happening.

Compounded by the echoes of other police officers, who were instructing crowds to keep moving, the authorities certainly succeeded in killing any sort of happy, party-like vibe that might encourage people to linger on the streets. Although Seiji felt obliged to move along and leave the area as soon as possible, he noticed there were large numbers of foreign tourists on the streets, who seemed to be chatting and having a great time together.

▼ For some, barricaded streets are a fun time.

With the night’s events looking like something from another world, Seiji returned after sun-up, where, in the light of day, he found the city littered with trash.

▼ Discarded cigarette butts and empty cans and bottles were scattered in front of closed stores and in flower beds.

▼ Center Gai, a super busy thoroughfare one street back from the scramble crossing, was looking a little worse for wear.

What really surprised Seiji though, was this was the state of the streets after cleaning. Usually, he’d expect this amount of litter before the street cleaners and trash-collecting crews made their way through the city, but it seems that many random, smaller items of trash had simply been left as they were, creating an eyesore for passersby.

▼ Not even staff at this Family Mart seemed concerned about the trash outside the premises.

From Seiji’s point of view, standards seemed to have dropped somewhat in terms of street cleaning. The overwhelming influx of foreign visitors is likely not helping things, as staff and clean-up crews are now under the pump to handle more work within their already short timeframes.

▼ Still, the cleaners did a gallant job, judging by the mounds of trash bags that were waiting by the roadside for collection.

Some corners of the city did look cleaner than others, giving him hope that some people still cared about the area he lives in.

With Shibuya officially cancelling its official New Year’s Eve countdown event for the past six years, the vibe is very different now compared to what it used to be. Although things appear to have improved in terms of unruly behaviour, Shibuya still needs to do something about the trash left behind on New Year’s Day. And with police posing a powerful presence in the lead-up to midnight, the start of 2026 was a firsthand reminder that New Year’s Eve in Shibuya is not without its problems.

Photos©SoraNews24
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