A rare instance of violence in Japan saw nine injured after a man drove a rented car into a famed street in Harajuku, which was closed to vehicles for the New Year.
While most ringed in the New Year peacefully without a hitch, some celebrations had ended in chaos and injuries.
A rare instance of violence in Japan saw nine injured after a man drove a rented car into a famed street in Harajuku, which was closed to vehicles for the New Year.
The 21-year-old man ploughed through Takeshita Street shortly after midnight on Tuesday (January 1), according to Tokyo Metropolitan Police. The man initially claimed to have intended to commit “an act of terror” but later said he was “acting in retaliation of the death penalty system”.
Eight men aged between 19 and 51 were knocked down as the car rammed through a third of the 350-metre street.
Of the injured, a 19-year-old undergraduate remains unconscious in critical condition in hospital. Four others sustained from fractures and head injuries, while the remaining three suffered minor bruises.
The ninth victim, a 19-year-old man, was assaulted by the man after he fled on foot. He was arrested 20 minutes later at the nearby Yoyogi Park.
About 120,000 people rang in the New Year under the watch of riot police but there were no reports of any other major incidents.
In the Philippines, tragedy struck outside Metro Manila just hours before the New Year after an explosion outside the South Seas mall left two dead and dozens injured on Monday.
Witnesses say that an identified male was seen dropping a wrapped box before fleeing in the area. Investigations are still underway.
Meanwhile, revellers in Sydney ushered in 2019 with relatively little incident – save for a humorous blunder.
A sign beamed onto one of the Sydney Harbour Bridge's pylons had the words “Happy New Year 2018!”.
Organisers of the City of Sydney, who invested resources and time into planning one of the world's first New Year's parties, saw the funny side of the mistake.
"We just laughed about it, you know these things happen as we said, it takes 15 months to organise an event of this size and scale," the fireworks' executive producer Anna McInerney told reporters in Sydney Tuesday (Jan 1).
"Obviously we weren't pleased, but look you move on, you just get back to doing the show."