Police fume after video shoot causes chaos
Police have issued a warning to an official of a video production company for failing to acquire a permit for a video shooting session with U.S. pop singer Mariah Carey in a busy Tokyo square, the police said Tuesday. The police said they gave the verbal reprimand to the 41-year-old production firm official after the impromptu shooting session took place at around 9:40 p.m. Monday in the Shibuya district, causing a commotion and traffic jam, with several hundred people stopping to look.
Earlier in the day, Japanese fans went crazy when they heard the superstar was in town and flocked to the first location of the video shoot for her next single, "The One", which was to take place in downtown Tokyo. According to Carey's web site, between 10,000 to 15,000 excited fans waited in the rain hours before Carey was scheduled to arrive, forcing the police to shut down the location due to the enormous crowd. The songstress went directly to a second location where thousands of fans were already waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite star.
The police had to shut down this location as well due to the huge crowd forcing Carey to move to the third location in Shibuya where she was finally able to shoot some of the video. According to the police, the 32-year-old singer suddenly told the staff, after her car passed by the crowded Hachiko exit of Shibuya Station, that she wanted to shoot there. The filming lasted about 15 minutes, the police said. The company has submitted a written apology, the police said.
In a similar case, Japanese pop singer Hiromi Go caused a commotion in August 1999 by holding an impromptu live show at an intersection in Shibuya, where he performed atop a trailer, attracting more than 1,000 people. Papers were sent to the prosecutors on those in charge of the event, including a producer of a record company. Carey's latest CD, "Charmbracelet", released Nov 20 in Japan, shot straight to #1 this week. (Japan Today)
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