Saturday, November 12, 2022

Takeshita Dori Crowd

I took this photo in 2017 in Harajuku.  In light of the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, South Korea where 156 people died and a further 198 people were injured, I realize now how dangerous a situation this could've been.

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9 comments:

Honolulu Aunty said...

Was there a surge to get somewhere in Korea? I think if everyone is just cruising, it should be okay. When I used to go to Japan, if spoke English out loud, I instantly would get a few more inches of space around me.

Anonymous said...

Scary! I hate crowds. One time in intermediate school my friends and I went to a free Japanese Idols Concert at Waikiki Shell, it was going to be filmed to be shown in Japan and it was free to fill the seats. It was after school so we go there early and were first at the gate that everyone was to be let in at, the problem was they had no set line per se, and people started gathering behind us and these were elderly Baachan types, well by the time they opened the gate it looked like a mob behind us and when the gate opened the crowd surged forward and my friends and I almost fell over from the surge, my rubber slippers broke (LOL) from being pushed forward. The bachans kept pushing and running to get seats. We were in shock at “the crowd mentality” of normally well behaved grannies.

K and S said...

what happened in korea could definitely happen anywhere.

Chet Colson said...

I totally agree. Once the stampede starts, it's out of control. I avoid large crowds if possible. Even crowded venues scares me. Crowded rooms, make sure you know where the exits are in case of fires and panic

jalna said...

Aunty, the crowd was moving through a narrow alley at first and then it got so dense and stopped moving. People fell and crushed each other.

Anon, ho those bachans!

Kat, yah.

Chet, now I know.

Susan said...

This reminds me of a trip we made to Japan in 2019 and we were in Dotonbori, Osaka on Halloween night. We couldn’t stand the crowd so we slowly got out of there -because there were so many ppl it took us longer to get out of the area. We also had our grandsons with us. I never realized something dangerous could happen in that situation. I also went to Korea and a little halmeoni pushed me out of the subway. Eep!

jalna said...

Susan, I never did like crowds and now more so

Anonymous said...

Don't go to Ueno park on the subway on the last Sunday of hanami. I think it was pretty close to what Korea was like. The subway was so jammed packed and the station was so jammed packed, couldn't move. I'm fortunate to be taller so was able to maneuver but the little women I was traveling with couldn't move so we just gave up and went back on Monday. waaaay better.
v

jalna said...

V, I heard about hanami at Ueno park!