All Hallow’s Eve revelry at Dotonbori

Revelers can enjoy the festivities in the streets, on the bridge, at the park, or even on a boat floating down the Dotonbori river. —PHOTOS BY ROBERT DE VILLA AND NASTASHA DE VILLA

OSAKA—With past favorite Halloween hangouts in Shibuya and Shinjuku, Tokyo, now with strict rules against congregating to prevent street drinking (crowd-drawer Hachiko was even put on hiatus and covered up this year), Osaka’s own tourist magnet, Dotonbori in Minami district, became the definitive place to be for merrymakers on Oct. 31.

The Halloween event in Osaka is a time for seeing and being seen, but mostly for having fun with friends.

The days leading up to the holiday that’s been gaining traction in Japan already saw a trickling of costumed carousers in the area, but nothing like the horde of colorful characters—from lore, anime, and video games to Hollywood, the news, even the Bible, plus cross-dressers and sexy uniforms—that flooded nearby streets, bridges, parks, arcades, and restaurants.

Movie characters are favorite go-to costumes, but the roleplay and projection for the cameras really take the cake.

Around 8:30 p.m., the police also began blocking Dotonbori Bridge, thinning the crowd and eventually clearing it. But that didn’t stop the revelers from having their fun.

Even pets get to dress up and join the party.

The riverwalk remained jam-packed for hours as loud music blared from everywhere and some people even offered shots (presumably of alcohol).

Sexy costumes are not limited to the women as many young men opt to don skimpy uniforms as well.

For both locals and tourists, the night provided an excuse to dress up (from simple paper cutout hats or a few painted red marks simulating bloody scratches to full-blown cosplays), meet with friends or make new ones, maybe get buzzed (some overdid it, like that one drunk who had to be carried off by the police), add a lot of spice to regular people-watching, vlog, and take a ton of photos while making memories.