Halloween, my favorite holiday, is not too widely celebrated in Japan. However this is not to say it is not celebrated at all. There are many places that love to put up decorations in their windows and I got to see a handful of trick or treaters this year as well. So that is to say it is celebrated MUCH MUCH more widely than I noticed in Korea.
This year Halloween was on a Monday. I did not decorate my classroom like I did last year, simply because I have more than one classroom...also if I just celebrated with one class, all my students would get jealous (my classes are in a rotation where I will see every kid once every 4 weeks...that just won't do). What I did do was dress up a bit. I bought a witch hat and wore some fall clothing and a skirt and to the thrill of my students I was a witch-teacher for Halloween. Unfortunately I am not allowed to give out candy much to the disappointment of everyone who came up to me and said trick-or-treat.
What DID happen was after school on my way home I discovered that my favorite bakery was having an event and giving out free cookies to anyone who was dressed up. Guess who got a cookie! Also I got like 50 photos with these adorable kids who were dressed up.
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| I really love the wizard with the wand and the adorable ninja! |
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| My cookie!! |
Japan is not a big celebrater of Halloween, but there are a couple of certainly noteworthy events that draw a crowd in the spirit of Halloween. Here are a few events that take place in the Kansai area.
One really important activity that I would encourage everyone to go to, is the festival held in Kitayama, with pumpkin carving masquerades and music! This is a truly fantastic spirited festival! You can find out more and see pictures at their home page here: http://www.kitayama-halloween.com
Another odd-ball gaijin event that I find amusing in a only-a-gaijin-would-do-this sort of way, is The Loop Line Party. There is a loop line around Osaka. This means that there is a train that makes a full loop, returning to the start point, Osaka Station. Every year, for it seems a number of years, a bunch of costumed gaijins make this a party train. Quite a large number of them meet up and get on a specific train and proceed to drink and make merry. Seems like a good time right? Well don't worry it won't get too out of control because the city has taken extra careful precaution since this event started and have employed a number of train station personnel and officers to keep it in hand. As you may have guessed, with the ruckus that follows such a happy crowd, there are many of less than content citizens trying to proceed to more mundane tasks.
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| This picture is from the 2002 Loop Line Party, with hundreds of people participating in the revelry. You can see the train in the background. |
If you are more into the scary aspect of Halloween: the one that follows you hidden in the dark, but never to be seen sort of way; the one that has you looking over your shoulder on empty streets; or the one that makes your hair rise and chills run down your spine when a rustle in the leaves only reveals a rabbit. Then! you just might be interested in Universal Studios Japan. They put on a classic Halloween event much similar, yet very toned down to the ones you might know, such as Knot's Scary Farm, or Hallowscream, or Scare-o-winds.
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| The entrance and railcar for Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka. |
Universal Studios decorates their Hollywood themed entrance with pumpkins and classic autumn decor, as well as a face-painting area with many getting their faces made up in glitter and paint in honor of the festivities.
Other than these few modifications, and the few dressed up for the occasion, you hardly notice anything differing from the norm until after sundown, when half the park becomes infested with zombies, in what they declare as Zombie Nation. At 6 pm zombies out pour from a few special entrances for the general entertainment and scaring thereof, the public. In addition to those meandering around, getting a good scream out of their particularly susceptible victims, there are also two rides that are overtaken for the festivities as well: one of these is Space fantasy, a recent ride that is much like an indoor roller coaster, which they turn off the indoor lights and add a zombie soundtrack; and the other featured one is the age-old classic, Jaws, which is done up in eerie blacklights with a few added zombies. These modifications to the rides is not the only scarezone they add to their park however, they also add three walking 'scarezones' which are much like a very shortened version of the haunted walking tours at Scare-o-winds and Hallowscream.
One thing that I certainly applaud them on is that all of their zombies have themes and jobs, for instance, fisherman zombies with fishhooks coming out of their mouths, or firemen zombies with axes, you get the idea.
Speaking of costumes~
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