Shibuya’s Year-Round Street Drinking Ban Still Sees Foreigners Partying with Alcohol

in the absence of staff.

Since the new Corona was moved to category 5, street drinking by young people and foreigners has become the norm around Shibuya Station, and there have been no end of problems over empty cans and other trash and alcohol consumption.

The Shibuya Ward Council, seeing the situation as a problem, amended the ordinance in June of this year. Although no penalties were set, the ordinance declared that street drinking would be prohibited year-round from the first of this month. This will be the first time that street drinking will be prohibited year-round in Tokyo.

Until now, drinking on the streets during Halloween was prohibited only in particularly crowded areas such as the Hachiko area and Center Street. However, the revised ordinance now includes the areas around Shibuya Park Avenue and Miyashita Park.

How much will the revised ordinance reduce street drinking?

When we visited Shibuya on the first weekend after the year-round ban on street drinking, we found ward officials patrolling the area and confiscating alcohol from young people and foreigners who were drinking on the streets.

However, in the absence of the staff, foreigners were enjoying drinking on the streets without interruption. Can street drinking really be eliminated under such circumstances? When we interviewed a ward official who actually patrols the streets, he told us that the situation is very difficult.

Eighteen people patrol the streets from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the next morning, which is the time when drinking on the streets is prohibited, but the prohibited areas are so large that there are some areas that we just cannot reach. Also, we would like to do more posters and notices prohibiting street drinking, but we have not been able to get permission from building owners. In fact, I think it would be better to impose fines or other penalties, but that is also difficult due to the lack of human resources.

Last year, convenience stores were asked not to sell alcohol during Halloween, and their shelves were covered with sheets.

The “Street Drinking Patrol” measure is being shared on social networking sites!

In fact, the wardens confiscated alcohol from many people as it was their first weekend. However, it seems that some people really want to drink alcohol on the street, and some SNS users have introduced ways to drink alcohol and have been criticized.

The ordinance prohibits drinking on the street, so if you are drinking in the eaves or store spaces of restaurants, convenience stores, etc., the officials can’t do anything about it,” said one. So they were introduced to the idea of running away to the eaves or other spaces when the officials approach.

Another method introduced was to camouflage the cans and bottles so that it would be difficult to tell that they were alcohol,” said a reporter from the society section of a national newspaper.

There is no penalty for drinking on the street, just a request to hand over the can or bottle. However, just because there is no penalty does not mean that the ordinance does not have to be obeyed.

In order for Shibuya to remain a safe and secure town, the cooperation of the people who spend time on the streets is indispensable.