Odds and Ends: Tokyo police hope to scare pranksters on Halloween

TOKYO – While many anticipate the appearance of ghosts and ghouls over Halloween, police and rail authorities in Tokyo have something more frightening to worry about: naked, drunken revelers.

Extra police and security guards will be posted at nearly 30 rail stations in the Japanese capital on Friday to prevent a repeat of parties that took place on commuter trains in Tokyo last Halloween, police and major train operator East Japan Railway Co. said Wednesday.

Police have been tipped off that a big party has been planned for Friday night at Shinjuku, one of Tokyo’s largest stations, a Tokyo police official said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

Signs have been posted at all stations warning that the network will not tolerate any high jinks.

The measures reflect lessons learned from last year, when inebriated pranksters vandalized trains, exposed themselves, caused train delays and triggered complaints from other passengers, a company official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

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University of Minnesota attempts flu shot record

MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota thinks it has jabbed its way into the record books.

More than 60 trained personnel dispensed 11,538 flu shots during a nine-hour period Tuesday at four locations around the campus in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

They hope that puts them in the Guinness World Records book for the most flu shots given in a single day. The old record was 3,271, set in November of 2006 in Sanford, Fla.

The official number will be released on Wednesday.

University students, faculty, staff and their dependents were eligible to receive the free vaccination Tuesday.

Ed Ehlinger, director and chief public health officer at the university’s Boynton Health Service, declared the event “a wonderful success.”

From Associated Press reports