Streamer turns the tables at shore-gawking hearing, proposes licensing herself
The general affairs committee of the Tokei municipal assembly heard expert witnesses on Sept. 1 over a proposed safety ordinance targeting "shore-gawking" — the crowds that gather at Yuragi sites. Opinion split sharply over the bill's most contested clause, which would restrict monetization of footage recorded near designated sites — and the streamer Yume, 19, countered with a proposal of her own: a certification system for streamers, herself included.
The city says emergency transports linked to shore-gawking reached 37 by the end of August, up from 31 when deliberations began, and nearly double the pace of three years ago, when record-keeping started at 19 cases a year. With the bay area's permeation index running high all summer, the crowds beyond the cordon have on some nights resembled "a holiday outing," according to the city's disaster office. "The inside of the cordon is protected by existing rules," a city section chief told the committee. "The outside belongs to no one's jurisdiction. This ordinance creates a jurisdiction."
Prof. Ikuko Tatewaki, 51, of Tokei Law University called the monetization clause "legitimate in aim, crude in method." Restricting revenue alone would simply push streams underground, she argued; the proper line is drawn "by place and distance, not by content or earnings," and less restrictive means should be examined first. She warned the clause "could become a doorway for the administration to choose which scenes may be spoken of."
The neighborhood association head, 68, was blunter: "I don't follow the theory, but the street can't wait." Late-night crowds bring litter and illegal parking; in August an ambulance was delayed by the throng. "Our block is worn down by the gawkers before the Yuragi ever gets to us. Somebody make it someone's job to part that crowd."
Yume appeared in a navy suit, her streaming persona set aside, and spoke largely without notes. "My average viewer is younger than I am. Eight-point-two million people is, in effect, a very large school. And what a school needs before rules is a nurse's office." She proposed an industry body that would certify streamers who complete first-aid and evacuation training; certified streamers would be obligated to display the cordon line and escape routes on screen at all times, while platforms would restrict on-site streams by the uncertified. "You will never empty the space outside the cordon. So give the person standing at the very front the heaviest homework."
The committee members were divided — some called self-regulation "an abdication," others warned that government certification of streamers "is the doorway to censorship" — and resolved to continue deliberations, requesting district-level transport data and hearings with platform operators. No other city has such an ordinance; a committee from the Naniwa assembly plans an observation visit.
Outside city hall, a dozen teenagers in school uniforms were waiting. Yume waved at their raised phones. "No stream today. — And look at you, lining up fine without any cordon." No date has been set for a vote.