Japanese Historical Parade Draws Almost Half - A - Million People
A parade featuring a 16th-century warlord drew a crowd of nearly half a million to the city of Gifu in central Japan on Sunday.
The organizers and police took safety measures to prevent any problems during the two-day festival, following a recent tragedy in Seoul, South Korea.
A costume procession featuring popular Japanese celebrity Kimura Takuya was a highlight. He rode on horseback, representing warlord Oda Nobunaga. A movie in which he plays the lead character is scheduled to be released next year.
Police officers mobilized for crowd control were on high alert throughout the day. They called on the crowd to keep moving.
Nearly a million people had applied for lottery tickets to the viewing areas -- more than twice the city's population.
About 15,000 people who had won tickets started lining up hours before the procession was due to begin.
In the wake of the crowd crush tragedy in Seoul, heavy security was in place to prevent any problems. Police kept telling people to leave areas that were outside designated viewing sections.
Many of those who failed to get tickets came anyway with the hope of getting a glimpse of the procession. That caused a standstill in a number of sections, which were supposed to be cordoned off.
The local merchants' association leader, Hayashi Koichi, says he was initially worried as the area had never experienced such large crowd before.
He commented, "We planned safety measures with the organizing committee. We are relieved the festival went well."
City officials say there were no major problems. There was a turnout of about 460,000 on Sunday, the largest ever for the event.