No Pants 2010 Global Reports

No Pants 2010 Buenos Aires

If you participated in one of the 44 regional No Pants Subway Rides today in 16 countries across the world, leave us an agent report in the comments below letting us know how it went. Post links to any photos and videos from your town’s event as well. Let us know how many people participated and what the temperature was.

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Check out the complete history of The No Pants! Subway Ride with videos of past years

Comments

  1. Stockholm, Sweden reporting.

    We had 4 girls and 4 guys joining us at Stockholms first No Pants Event.

    We had a ride for about 1h 15min and will be reporting with pictures, vids and news later on :)

    • You guys are awesome. Will be participating later today in Portland, OR. A bit chilly here, but then I think of you eight guys and girls, and have the strength and courage to persevere. Still, I’m kinda wishing I lived in Sydney. 84 degrees. Lucky bastards.

  2. Out of 208 people who said they would be attending on Facebook, only 31 turned up for the London event.
    It was bloody cold, and the Americans involved had trouble remembering that “no pants” was completely different to “no trousers”. :P
    All in all, it was a fun day, but apart from a few stares and questions from tourists, most people in my carriage kept a stiff upper lip and/or only whispered to themselves about the strangeness of it all.
    Bring on next year!

  3. London

    Temp -2, (with wind chill -6)

    Attendees 30-50 (about 5 press photographers too)

    Route: Picadilly Line: Leicester Square – Kings Cross – Earls Court – Leicester Square.

    Plan was to one by one, take our trousers off before Kings Cross. I was the last to do so in my car, and the women opposite me kept exchanging astonished glances with me, which I returned in kind as one by one the agents de-trousered themselves. I wish I’d been videoing her reaction when I then also took my trousers off, as she’d clearly thought I wasn’t involved. Also a funny moment when a man on the train started challenging the agents about what was going on and get quite annoyed that he didn’t get a straight answer from anyone.

    Return journey was in a very crowded car, which actually added to the reactions of jo public as they could probably only see any one agent. A couple near me just couldn’t keep a straight face, but being British of course tried their best to do so.

    A funny event. Lessons learned from the bad organisation this year will be corrected next. I’m going to get involved with the organisation myself next time round.

    Congrats to all those brave souls who took part and see you all next year.

  5. More info from Stockholm before we add videos and photos.
    The 8 of us managed to cover all 3 lines in the Stockholm subway system, joining 12 cars and moving on 13 stations.
    We were joined by a profesional photographer who happened to pass by on our starting point. Looking forward to great photage to share with you all.

  7. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=370028&id=332990640384

    Pictures are now up for the first ride in Dallas, TX!

    We started at 9:30am and went till noon.

    We had 20 people participate and it averaged about 20 degrees!!! We had great reactions for everyone that saw; even the Security!

    “You crazy!”
    “You must be comfortable with your bodies to do that!”
    “Is this some sort of holiday?”
    “Are y’all having a reunion?”

    http://www.facebook.com/OutOfOrderNT

  8. I also took part in London, and agree with the comments above. The ride to Earl’s Court from Leicester Square was quite funny as I could see three other agents, all de-trousered. People were giggling and generally enjoying it.

    A guy standing next to me asked why I took my trousers off. I told him, “It’s hot in here.”
    “But what about them?” he asked, gesturing to the others.
    “Yeah, they took theirs off too.”
    For some reason this seemed to satisfy his curiosity.

    Looking forward to the photos, videos and Global Reports.

  9. Just got back from the Atlanta ride. I guess the cold kept most at home, but we had about the same amount as last year. It went perfectly! My excuse: “I’m meeting someone for a blind date and I want to impress him.” The whole train kept asking questions about my date. Later, my boyfriend entered on the train and we “met” for our blind date. The entire cart clapped and cheered when we finally “met.” Priceless.

    A couple of news outlets were there including Creative Loafing. Looking forward to some photos soon! GOOD LUCK NYC. 4 minutes to go!

  10. Buffalo’s first no-pants was relatively successful. 23 felt like 9 degress F with the wind, about 15 out of 90 RSVP’s on facebook showed up. Buffalo’s Metro is only one line, we got off at 7 stations and waited to get back on the returning train. 5 people got disappeared, and 1 got on the wrong train and was pants-less alone for a while. We got some nice reactions (there were some curious Mormons on the train), in the end we stayed on together for another ride down to the Allen St. station. Then we had a…debriefing.

  11. The Vienna, Austria ride had about 30 participants, even though over 125 said they were going to participate. It was about 1C (34F) out. We met in Karlsplatz to get organized then took the U1 to Praterstern, the U2 to Volkstheater, then switched to the U3 and rode up and down it for about 45min.

    There were some great reactions-many people staring and a few asking questions. The subway was not very crowded, but rather successful.

    There are pictures http://public.glenneroo.org/?path=event/no%20pants%202010/glenneroo/ and http://s584.photobucket.com/albums/ss285/etextraordinary/No%20Pants%202K10%20Vienna/

  12. It was downright hot in Buenos Aires – 88 degrees. Some of the girls on the subway not participating were wearing less normally than the guys (after they took their pants off)! Still, we managed to confuse quite a few people. We met up at the center of the city, and staggered people exiting the train – 2 people at the first stop, 2 at the next, 4 at the next, and then the rest of us. Each group got on the next train, and at the end we turned around and came back.

    The big surprise was there was a half-dozen guys and girls in steampunk suits and victorian dresses at the turn-around stop! So we were confused about them, they were confused about us, and everyone was confused about both of us!

    However it was a good time for the 16 or so people who came, and a good first showing for No Pantalones en el Subte. I’ve posted my photos on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=197130347539 ), but we had 3 other people taking photos, with better cameras, so in the next day or two we should have much better photos up.

  13. Lisbon
    About 120 people (out of the 336)
    Chilly, but mostly rainy

    It was GREAT. The only downside was that at some point there were more people not wearing pants than there were wearing. But hey. We were askes by a journalist if this was an ‘act of liberation’? No, it’s just FUN!

    Thumbs up to the organizers :)

    See you next year!

  15. Boston – a lot of people, couldn’t say how many, but in the hundreds. Amazing reactions from people – a lot of “Is this a marketing campaign?” or “What are you protesting?”. Myself and the two other agents I was with tested a few different stories with different people, including my personal favorite, walking up to several bystanders and innocently asking why so many people were wearing pants today.

    Favorite reaction: One guy couldn’t handle the hilarity of the situation and got pretty angry. He kept yelling that we were all sick, and he approached me and asked why I was wearing underwear. I said, “aren’t you wearing underwear?” and that just set him off. He shouted at us, “This is BULLSHIT! Put some fucking PANTS on!”

    All in all, I’d say it was a success.

  18. Reporting in from Cleveland’s first entry in the annual No Pants craze! We had 10 agents join us and the temperature was a brisk 25 degrees! Unfortunately, today just reinforced how lame and ignorant our city is.

    We had 10 members show up, and quite the variety. It was almost exclusively female agents, however ages ranged from high school all the way to 54! We boarded the RTA Red Line at Tower City and headed towards the airport. Only a couple minutes after the de-pantsing, two other riders started causing a scene about it and called the police.

    Sure enough, three stops into our journey, the train stopped and here come the police. Everyone had gotten their pants back on by that point, but we were all pulled off the train and berated by one of the officers. He tried some scare tactics, both towards “disorderly conduct” and some phantom rule about taking pictures on transit trains. Of the four police officers, he was the only one worked up about it, the others just seemed annoying that they got called to such a harmless prank. To their credit, one of the other officers hung around a minute til the others left and told us “don’t worry about it, you’re alright”.

    So unfortunately, this report isn’t about the funny reactions, questions and all around fun atmosphere that everyone else has enjoyed in other cities. We all still had a great time though!

    I didn’t get many pictures before we had to abort, but I’ve put them all on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41615144@N08/sets/72157623183719104/

    This is probably my favorite: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41615144@N08/4264198824/in/set-72157623183719104/

  19. Hi. Checking in from Toronto. There were maybe 350 of us — up 50 from last year but certainly not the 2000+ who’d signed up on Facebook. Much warmer than last year too and we kept to the published plan to start at Museum Station.

    There was a power outage affecting the neighbouring area and it was weird to be in a dark station, but the subway was running so after making sure everyone was there, we got on the southbound train a little after 3:30PM.

    I was in the first car and the weird part was a ton of people got on at Union after some big event at Skydome/Rogers Centre. So we got a lot of reactions from them, particularly kids exclaiming “Ew! There are more people in their underpants! I wonder why.” It was hard to keep a straight face. I was a bit uncomfortable since two young girls were sitting beside me, but by some ESP, I was wearing a pair of panty hose and a long-ish coat so I think they thought I was in a miniskirt.

    It all went pretty fast. Some were heading back to Queens Park and then a McDonalds. I had to get a few errands done and begged off at King St.

    It was fun and I’m looking for “partners in crime” for next year.

  20. The Sydney one went great and yes it was hot! So a great excuse for bystanders. For most of the agents it was our first time and alot of us couldnt keep straight faces till the second trip back. I think most of the funniest expressions were when we were walking to the opera house for final group photos and we passed all these otdoor dining areas. All in all great day http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/album.php?aid=190284&id=760109516&ref=mf photos thanks to Amanda L’Estrelle

  21. I think the -7° “feels like” temperature is the best way to participate in a No-Pants event such as this. In hot summer weather, not wearing pants doesn’t seem too big of a deal… in the winter, you get a lot more looks.

    This was my first time participating in the No Pants ride. I’ve been wanting to for years, but haven’t been able to (even in Chicago) due to being in the middle-of-nowhere Minnesota over Christmas breaks.

    Some of my memories of today’s Chicago Event:

    My first thought, while approaching the meeting point, was “if there are only like 10 people there, I may just keep walking by…” And at first I was worried I’d have to, until I noticed about 100 people huddling behind a building. About 150 people showed up in-all.

    It was well-organized; the city police knew about the event, so that helped everything go off without any hitches. I’m pretty sure it will be appearing on most of the local news stations this evening. (Look for me in a few shots… I’m very tall! ;)

    I loved seeing riders who had their faces shoved in books – couldn’t decide if they were trying to not look, or were completely unaware of the pantless fiasco.

    Rather than getting off of my car and waiting for the next train, at my designated stop I hopped on the car in front of mine. This was nice because everyone else on that car who was going pantless had already left, and many people asked me what was with the underwear today. I told them I didn’t know what they were talking about and that I had just been very warm on the other car.

    Other than that, we were able to peer-pressure a businessman into removing his pants. Two other memories to take back were having an entire train singing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the way to our party-restaurant afterwards and seeing a restaurant (with full glass side-windows) filled with pantless people!

    Mission definitely accomplished here.

  23. Reporting from Washington D.C.

    Was a cold day, but mostly went off without a hitch! Several hundred agents and lots of great reactions, twice I was asked if there was an “underwear convention”…mostly just fun meeting new people and having some laughs. My favorite comment came from a kid asking if this was a “school trip”?? I’m not sure what sort of schools he’s familiar with, but I’ve never seen one with pants-free outings before! Didn’t stay for the afterparty, but if the event itself is any indication, I bet it was a smashing good time!

  24. Reporting from Mexico City

    It was the first time, There were maybe 80 of us, it was very warm about 40°F.

    people from cities in the US like Oregon who were here, came and it was fun, we had no trouble with the police, or any other situation, it was a little unorganized, but it was great.

    A funny thing was, that we had big media “coverage” a lot of photographers, this was a little awkward.

    some pictures, after the ride.
    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148129&id=624611548&ref=mf

  25. We had about 140 participants, including several people over 40, and a LOT of media. Not much happens in Portugal, so anything like this is nothing less than a media event.

    We traveled downtown, did the mission and got some nice reactions. Then the media left – along with some agents – but the rest (still about 100) wouldn’t budge. So we ended up doing it again, this time uptown and with no flashes. It was a blast – we got a lot more funny, subtle reactions.

    Most people here seem to think we’re shooting a soap opera, or doing publicity for “something”. (If no one ends up knowing what it is, it must be pretty poor publicity.)
    Last year a woman thought we were advertising the Subway heating system. We were supposed to be showing everyone that if we can travel pants-less and not be cold, it must be good (today we had about 5ºC, along with rain).

    This year we had our very own Gay Couple, like IE had on their first No Pants 9 years ago! But they were friendly, albeit loudly incredulous.

    It was a lot of fun, but I long for more thought out missions without press.

  26. This event was amazing, tons of people and lots of fun, we saw so many surprised faces. It was absolutely priceless, and ill be going every year for now on!

  27. Reporting from Washington, DC.

    This was my first no-pants ride. I missed 2009 NPSR. DC was the place to be. Several hundred people (200? 300?) joined in the fun. It was awesome.
    I was accosted twice with requests to explain what was going on. Both inquirers were left with no straight answer and probably the feeling that a conspiracy was on. Even some frustration at so many people doing something and not provide an explanation. Does fun need explaining?
    Smiling was the key. It was hard not to laugh, though, as people wree tugging the sleeve of their significant other to discreetly point at all the pantless people.
    Bizarely, it was fairly comfortable to be pantless. The occasional breeze due to oncoming trains was sometimes shrinkingly surprising, but otherwise OK.
    The boundaries for the DC NPSR were fairly tight and made kind of a circuit. Astonishingly for WMATA, trains were very close in correspondence and I got to go on about 10 different trains/cars in an hour. Best thing is… we were everywhere!
    Best stop? Smithsonian at 4pm, when lots of people, young, old, came out of the museums and headed to pack the trains… awesome reactions from horror to photo inquiry.

    See yall next year, pantless people!

    Post pictures if you have any!

  29. The San Francisco one was big and my first one! There were hundreds. I took the BART train in from the North to SF. The train coming from the south which contained hundreds of participants had not arrived yet. Getting off the train with a handful of others also pantsless, we found two network cameramen, some other videographers and several photographers.
    I was interviewed and even got a call by a friend that she saw me on the news and in the pic at the top of the story – http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7210954
    Once all participants had arrived instead of taking more transit, we walked (a line of people longer than I could see the end of) to Union Square where we got lots of photos taken. We then went into the Levis store where some of us went to the PANTS 50% Off table. We stayed in Union Square for about an hour, (even cheering for some to take their pants off and some did!) and then went on our way. The SF police were great and didn’t stop us or kick us out of anywhere. I had a great time and got a kick out of making the tourists and locals smile and take photos. – Hamster

    • I’m currently uploading some of the photos I took today. They’re at http://www.flickr.com/photos/schaffner

      I got on the BART train at San Bruno and followed all the way to the Twin Peaks bar. There were a huge number of participants! Everyone was having fun. I only heard about a few negative things. I heard that one family on the BART train was disgusted and got off to take the next one. Also, since every one was boarding the center cars it was taking a long time to board. The train operator did not know what was going on, and she was getting yelled at by BART central control for taking too long at the station stops. Maybe next year everyone should spread out throughout the whole train.

      All in all, it was great!

  34. Tokyo Japan, January 10. I got on the train at an in-between station, and found myself immediately surrounded by cops. They insisted on detaining me and taking my picture. Of course there is no law against it. They said “it might be okay in your country, but in Japan this goes against tradition. In Japan people have to wear pants.” Which is of course not true. There’s a tradition of people walking around in their long summer underwear (which is what I was wearing under my suit and tie), granted it’s usually in their own neighborhoods. And the mini-skirted high-school girls were showing more leg than me.
    But the cops were really on the ball here. Must have been a tip off, or it’s their “terrorism alert” quick reactiveness. (It’s a good lesson for real would-be terrorists: create a massive distraction.) The younger cop who talked with me was much more in tune with the gravity of the situation: that it wasn’t something to get so worked up over.
    If you’re reading this, honorable hard-working Tokyo police officers, please forgive us our small harmless prank. It was for everyone’s enjoyment, a public service if you will, with the message: lighten up.

    • I commented on a Japanese bbs/forum thingy (alfalfalfa or something) that was linked to one of the news articles on this that I linked to below & someone there said “Sorry- I saw the facebook post and reported it”, apparently “in order to protect the public order” from this terrible travesty. And then went on to say I should be grateful I wasn’t arrested, and reflect on how I wasted tax money. *groan* So there ya go. I guess every country has its party poopers.

  36. Rode in DC, which went very well–the numbers were just right so there were a good-sized group of pants-free people on each train, but not so many as to overwhelm normal riders. Best reaction of the day, on seeing a group of pantsless riders: “Were they robbed”?

  37. Hey guys! Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) reporting in!

    Minnesota appears to have been the coldest AGAIN! We were the coldest No Pants ride in 2009, and this year is no exception.

    No Pants Day 2010 started out cold and crisp. With a forecast high of 12F (That’s -11C for you guys in other countries) and the sun shining, we were expecting a beautiful, if frigid day.

    I arrived at the Mall of America Transit Station. As I stepped out of the Elevators at 1:30, I looked around, and saw several people milling around. I said loudly, as if talking to my friend “I wonder who’s here for our event.” Several people waved all of a sudden, and started gathering around.

    We noticed a high amount of Mall Security and Transit Officers, including a small group outside who had a megaphone.

    After speaking with Andy and Scott, we figured they were there for us. So I went over and spoke with the officer with the megaphone.

    First: I would like to say the experience with the officers was very refreshing. In a day and age where suspicion and distrust are rampant, the officers were all very professional and courteous.

    In speaking with him, he simply said “We just want to make sure there aren’t any issues. The Mall is a family environment, and we want to keep it that way and not cause any problems.”

    I told him “I understand. We have a very specific set of rules to prevent any issues, and if someone refuses to follow them, they will be removed from the group.”

    The supervisor came over, and we talked about the same things, and I reassured him that we were on top of the situation.
    There was a media crew there, which I thought might have been a local station there to cover the event. It turns out it was TLC filming another episode of Mall Cops: Mall of America.

    After the brief conversation with security, we gathered around and waited for the train to arrive.

    The plan was to get on the train and after two or three stops, depants.

    Two of the Transit officers rode with us, and were the spitting image of professionalism. They laughed and enjoyed the scenery of almost 60 people droppings pants (a few of them quite attractive too. ;)).

    It was a very brisk day, and the ride lasted about 30 minutes or so from the Mall of America to Target Field in Downtown Minneapolis.
    Once we hit the last stop, the train was removed from service and we were forced to disembark. Being in downtown with the sun hiding behind buildings on a cold day is bad enough. Doing so without pants in the wind is even worse! With the wind chill, it was close to 0F (-18C). Already 32 degrees below freezing.

    We are Minnesotans though, so we just gathered close for our “No Pants!” cheer and a group photo.

    On the way back, the entire “I forgot my pants” premise was dropped, and we just had a good time. Many people who boarded the train asked if they were on the wrong train. We’d say “Well, where do you need to go?”.

    We got lots of laughs from people, funny looks, but it was status quo.

    We did have an issue where an older man started raving about homosexuality when we all depantsed. He left the train in a hurry.

    TLC came up after the event and interviewed several people that participated, and even pulled me aside for a 10 minute interview as the “leader” of Plan B MN.

    Plan B will be going NATIONAL! Yay!

    • Due to a meeting we had to be at that afternoon, my friend and I were only able to participate as far as the Franklin Avenue station. Our best reaction happened when we got off the train there, still pants-less. A guy waiting on the platform asked what was going on. Were we participating in some kind of Polar Bear Swim? I said well, it was just *hot* in there (as noted by Chris, it was about 12F). He laughed a little but seemed fairly content with that explanation. As we boarded the train going back to where we had left the car, he shouted at us, “I hope it won’t be hot too hot for you to keep your pants on this time!”

  38. The main Dallas, TX ride had around 80 people, divided into multiple groups on two different lines.

    After the initial meeting to get everyone organized, a transit cop told us that removing our pants could lead to arrest or a fine, however no one was charged with any offenses, and the day was a complete success!

    Brian and Chris, the brains behind the Dallas ride had worked with a local bar to setup celebratory part afterward, and the pantless fun continued at The Amsterdam Bar in Exposition Park.

    The Dallas Morning News sent along a reporter and a photojournalist, and the story, photos and a video are front page on their web site this morning, as well as the Metro section of the print edition:

    http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011110dnmetnopants.3c9c19d.html

    Additional photos are at my website: http://nakedlens.org.

  39. Latest news from Stockholm.
    Even without a big media crowd following the 8 of us we ended up in the Metro newspaper this morning

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3255718&id=517792080&op=1&view=all&subj=269251564257&aid=-1&oid=269251564257

    I also got interviewed a couple of hours ago on the Swedish radio.
    Promising that we will be far more people on the subway in Stockholm next year.

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=269251564257#/video/video.php?v=253956347080&oid=269251564257

  41. Denver had a round turnout of just over 40 in total. Not phenomenal, but a near quadrupling of last year’s turnout! And word is spreading for future global events. Denver’s going to be put on the map within the next year, trust me!

    A couple stories:

    A confused Asian Kid got on our train at the Alameda stop… looked around didn’t know what was going on… so he took his pants off too… he didn’t want to feel out of place – and he thought that was what people do when they ride the lightrail.

    A passenger got angry and got off so she wouldn’t be around a bunch of “freaks” (her words).

    Some random guy got on at a stop without his pants on and was happy to see other people without their pants on…

    The RTD security guy came through and didn’t harass anyone, but did look concerned.

    • Were you at the Lincoln meet-up? Those of us at Union were a bit at a lost.

      There was a boy with a skateboard who took a seat, took a glance at me, and then suddenly moved. Only the reporter caught his photo in the moment!

      There were those who simply cracked up nonstop (quite a handful of these). Also caught the free mallride on 16th, a sudden distancing occurred.

      I spotted at least ten officers between Alameda and Broadway, they came out in droves, but no checkings.

  46. Tokyo report #2

    Got to my closest station a bit before the designated time. Mine was the 4th stop of 11 “starting” stations listed in the local event- I went into the station bathroom, depantsed, & headed up to the platform. I was a little early, and the previous train was already waiting, so I pretended to look at the car map for a bit & waited for the next train. My gf (fully clothed) stood a door down w/ her iPhone & snapped a pic, and I saw another guy a door down the other way take his pants off on the tracks while we waited, but he had half-length long underwear underneath.

    Our train finally arrived, so I got on & just stood there, everyone staring at me as expected. As soon as the doors closed, a couple older guys in suits come right up to me & start going “What are you doing? You can’t go around w/ no pants on in Japan.” I say the obligatory “Oh, I just forgot them” and the response is “No, you didn’t forget them.” as he pulls out his badge. DAMMIT. So they walk me over next to the door, standing around me so nobody else sees my legs (far less exposed than most girls, even in winter) & have me get off at the next stop. Meanwhile, my gf at the other end of the car can’t see much, so our SMSs go “Damn, that was fast.” “What?” “COPS” as she watches me get off the train.

    They have me put my pants on immediately, right on the platform, while the train is still stopped, & then show my ID. They copy everything down onto a small notepad, make a few calls, ask a bunch of questions. What’s going on, did you organize this, etc. And of course the aforementioned “This may be OK in other countries, but not in Japan.” I explained the event a bit, how we’re not doing anything weird or trying to cause any problems, just riding the train & acting normal, but with no pants. They asked if I did anything like this for Halloween, & if I got warned then, too, so I said “No, I had pants on for that. Well, tights, actually” & showed them my costume pic. They laughed, & seemed to be fairly good-natured about the whole thing once they realized I wasn’t going to do anything, but insisted that it’s “not acceptable” here.

    After a while 2 uniformed cops show up, & one of the first guys takes my ID down to make a photocopy. The 2 new guys restart the “interrogation” process, only are a lot ruder & less understanding about the whole thing, insinuating that they could revoke my visa for it. WTF? So I just stand there & wait. The first guy comes back up w/ my ID, gives it to the other uniformed cop, & the 2 suits get back on the train & leave. Uniformed cop #2 then copies down all my info into HIS notepad while the other one continues to be a dick about the whole thing, until finally they say “OK, you can go home this time, but next time you won’t be going home.”

    Meanwhile, my gf, who’d gotten off at the stop after me (Shinjuku, the busiest station in Tokyo), saw 2 other guys in their boxers about to get on the train, and pushed them right back off saying “Noooonono!” & explained that I’d been detained. They pulled their pants back on quickly, & watched as a Japanese guy got taken away in his underwear. Apparently station staff were on the lookout as well, since a conductor walked up to them & demanded “Where are you going?!” “Umm, Harajuku?” “That’s 2 stops.” “OK…” Sheesh.

    Anyway.

    I head to Harajuku for the 2:00 picnic, as planned (despite overhearing the first 2 saying that they’re “telling people not to go there”- not like they can pick us up for having a picnic w/ our pants on) & there’s about 30 people there in the park. A few others were also stopped, so we few decided to hang back when the rest of the group decided to take a pants-off group shot in front of the fountain.

    After relaying the whole story again, someone pointed out something I didn’t realize when it’d happened- when they asked me about Halloween, they were probably referring to the Yamanote Halloween Party, where a bunch of rowdy foreigners get on the train & have a party, often getting quite out of hand, and even in some cases causing damage & delays to the train- so THAT’s why there were so many cops out.

    I managed to find a couple local news articles about the whole thing- they mentioned the NY event, and how people here were going to “copy” it, but that “apparently nobody showed up” and “it was a ‘misfire'”. Um, yeah- because almost everyone was pulled off the train immediately. They had 60 cops out specifically for this, which meant there were 2 for each of the participants (at least, the ones that made it to the picnic).

    Here’re the links- pipe thru your favorite translator:
    http://www.sanspo.com/shakai/news/100112/sha1001120503002-n1.htm
    http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0110/TKY201001100211.html

    And the quote from the 2nd article that sums up the police attitude here: “We cannot tolerate conduct which invites confusion.” T_T;

      • Yeah- I’ve gotten a few second opinions on the whole thing, and I suppose it sorta makes sense that the cops would want to prevent anything bad happening on the trains, esp. given what happens on Halloween (a couple years ago, someone decided to remove the light bulbs, making the train car go dark, which of course meant they had to stop the train, causing huge delays & inconvenience. More people ride that line every day that all the trains & subways in NYC combined!) I think from now on, any events like this here should have the pre-approval & cooperation (or at least understanding) of the local police, esp. if it has anything to do w/ the train system.

        But! I was talking to someone else yesterday, who said they knew someone who was part of a time freeze thing here, too, similar to the Frozen Grand Central one (I see a few comments from Tokyo-ites in that thread). Will have to look that up, ’cause THAT would be cool (and far less likely to result in police interrogation)! :)

      • I just missed the messages about the cops and got to Shibuya station, depants in a bathroom stall, and got on the train on one of the alternate cars (figuring that the primary car would be crowded). I sat down, like nothing was out of the ordinary. Some woman sat down next to me, but she must have just noticed my lack of pants because just as she got comfortable she shot up and went to a different seat on the other side of the car. I looked around a bit covertly and didn’t see anyone else sans pants and started shifting cars to see if I could find a bigger crowd. After about 4 stations of not finding anyone, I checked facebook with my cell and found the messages about the cops in the one car I didn’t check. I quickly got off the train at station 5, found a bathroom and repants’d before heading back to harajuku for the picnic. So I had my own little no-pants ride for 5 stations and managed to avoid police hassle, though a few potentially almost noticed me, I think. We got 32 of us at the after-picnic in Yoyogi park and took a few pantsless photos there for mementos. So far only one person posted photos on facebook so far: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=214080922766#/photo_search.php?oid=214080922766&view=all but hopefully more photos will be posted soon.

        Perhaps the event didn’t go as planned, but we’re not discouraged to try again in the future. IE Tokyo forever!

  47. Warm chinook weather (around 8°C, 46°F), 2 TV news teams, 3 press photographers.
    5 participants in 1st wave, 7 in 2nd wave (10 total over 2 waves).

    Pictures:
    http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=251693490776&view=all

    News links:
    http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100110/CGY_no_pants_100110/20100110/?hub=CalgaryHome

    http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/418747–ditching-fears-and-baring-briefs-on-no-pants-day

    Video:
    http://www.facebook.com/video/?oid=251693490776

    -=TT=-

  49. Reporting from Toulouse, France:

    The team consisted of a grand total of 6 agents, but the mission went off without a hitch.

    At one point a security guard approached 2 pants-less agents, who started thinking they might be in trouble…the guard told them they couldn’t take photos in the metro, then turned around and left. No mention of the pants!

    In typically French fashion, not a single civilian said a word to any of the agents. Often that ‘live and let live’ thing is great -you can do whatever you want and nobody will bother you- but bit of interaction would have been nice on this mission.

    All the same we had a great time, and this morning when I rode the metro (avec pants) I felt like a king, knowing what we’d done on Sunday. And, following NYC’s progression, logically we should have about 3000 agents by 2018, right?

    A small disappointment: we were only guys. A mix of men and women would have really added something, I think…but we simply could not convince any women friends to do it. Anyone else find this?

    Anyway, here’s some video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YSL8d6ZBeY&feature=player_embedded

    See you out there next year.

    …Agents Boo & Los

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