Six or seven years ago, I happened to get caught up in an extremely tight Halloween crowd in Tokyo. I had finished work around seven p.m., and I decided to walk

Six or seven years ago, I happened to get caught up in an extremely tight Halloween crowd in Tokyo. I had finished work around seven p.m., and I decided to walk home through Shibuya to check out the people and costumes. (I'm in my sixties now, and I haven't done Halloween myself since childhood.) The crowds started getting thick as I started down the narrow Center-gai street heading toward the station. Maybe half the people were in costume, and I took pictures of some of the more amusing getups. The mood was cheerful and relaxed, and people were not noticeably drunk. The average age was probably around eighteen. Before I realized it, the crowd became so tight that it was difficult to move. Our bodies were pressed against each other. People in Tokyo are used to such intense crowding on rush-hour trains, but this was the first time I had ever experienced it on an open street. Fortunately everyone remained calm and I was able to gradually push my way to the station in about an hour--the walk would normally have taken only five minutes. But I was keenly aware that, through no fault of any individual, the crush could have easily turned into a nightmare. My condolences to the people in Seoul.