Halloween in Japan

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I am a massive lover of fancy dress and hence a halloween enthusiast! I will always try to go all out and get annoyed when others don't do the same. Before coming to Japan I was worried that they did not celebrate halloween but little did I know just how serious the Japanese take fancy dress, and halloween as a whole. Thus this halloween was definitely an unforgettable experience for me!

Since the beginning of October there have been little signs of halloween all around Fukuoka. In canal city there were big spiders webs hanging from the the ceilings and a huge pumpkin in the middle of the 'canal' going through the mall. One thing that made me laugh and something I noticed rather than 'Trick or Treat' they often had other sayings that didn't really make much sense, for example 'Trick or Parade' ?!?! I don't know if it's bad translation or if they just put their own spin on it. In shops I have noticed that there was a lot of halloween food too, for example I've seen pumpkin kitkats (they are actually really nice) and pumpkin tempura. Now, I know England is guilty of beginning advertising early but I can assure you now that Japan beats them in this by a long long way. It may be because of this that the Japanese people are so enthusiastic about halloween too. For example, on my first day in Japan, 24th September, my tutor asked if I had my halloween costume planned yet! The shops were already full of costumes. One thing I noticed about the costumes was that there were ALOT based around school uniforms and things related to young girls which is kind of creepy but I suppose it can be considered part of the culture here and be passed off as a culture difference. I was invited to countless halloween parties on Facebook and in the end i had to try and decide between them. I narrowed it down to three so here goes, my three halloweens in Japan....



1) The JTW halloween party was a must since everyone from the course and all the tutors were going, plus I had heard that it had always been good fun in previous years. It was held on 24th October, a whole week before halloween itself (and it wasn't the only one on so early). Everyone put a lot of effort into their costumes and this definitely added to the atmosphere. There were all sorts of different costumes from cross-dressed school 'girls' to pikachu to zombies and from a witch to a power ranger. I went as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. I wore shorts and a crop top with long socks and boots; an outfit that would be pretty standard in the UK. However, as soon as I took my jacket off I couldn't believe how many people were making comments, mainly girls may I add calling me 'sexy' haha! I was asked about Tomb Raider on numerous occasions and I think I disappointed a lot of people when I told them that I'd never played the game, or watched the film for that matter. A lot of people are into gaming here but unfortunately I'm not one of them, I just thought Lara Croft would make a good costume! One thing I noticed was that most of the Japanese girls went for a 'cute' looking character and this is something I believe is very popular in Japan as opposed to England where it tends to be either scary or mean girls style slutty! The party was a real laugh and there was even a bingo competition. The highlight was probably one of the boys winning a 'Tenga Cup'... I'll let you google that one for yourself!! As the party finished pretty early, afterwards a big group of decided to go to a club. When we arrived we were unsure weather people would be in fancy dress costumes too. As we were walking through Tenjin a lot of people, mainly workers, were making comments about our costumes which was pretty funny. When we got inside it turned out that the Happy Cock were calling their usual Friiday night a 'halloween party' (I later realised that every night of the week was a halloween party for them) but there were not that many people in costumes inside. Nevertheless, our group was so big that it did not really matter and there was a really positive response from people to our costumes.



2) The following night (25th October), there was an international halloween party and we decided it would be fun to go and maybe meet some other 'gaijin' as well as some new Japanese people. This one was nomehoudai and tabehoudai, however it was SO busy that queuing for a drink too forever and there was really limited food, nevertheless, I still had a pretty good time. We decided to go as the gaijin zombies and this fancy dress was really fun to do. I basically got to put black make up all over my face and cover myself in fake blood. I also had to help do the boys make up too. I discovered a trick to creating bloody wounds: sticking toilet paper to your skin with eyelash glue and covering it with fake blood... simple but looks really gorey and disgusting! Absolutely everyone at this party had made a real effort with their costumes and again there was real mix. Although once again, with only few exceptions, Japanese girls tended to opt for cute costumes. One of the funniest parts of this night was the walk from the subway station to the bar where the party was as it was still daylight outside and there was a big group of us all walking through the city in a big bloody mess. I'm sure we actually scared a few people! There was some entertainment at the party which consisted of a singer and two backing dancers singing and doing dance routines for us. I don't know why I find it so amusing when they do this, it just really reminds me of me and my sister making dance routines in our bedroom when we were kids and yet here its genuine entertainment for them! After the party about 15 of us went on to a karaoke bar which, as I've emphasised in my previous posts, are definitely one of my favourite things about Japan so all in all it was a great night!



3) 31st October, the real night of halloween. I cant give you an exact name for what my costume was this time, it was kind of vampire/zombie/creepy looking thing with bloody all around my mouth but this was probably my favourite costume out of my three. I did quite a few people's make up again and I actually really enjoyed turning people scary! We had been given a leaflet at the Happy Cock the previous week for their halloween party so we decided to head there since we knew it would be a good night (we really are going to be known there soon!) and we had read about a halloween costume competition with a 50,000 yen (about £300) prize so we knew that would bring out some great costumes. There was a really different atmosphere on the streets of Tenjin that night, the streets were a lot busier than normal and almost everyone as in a costume of some kind. For the first time, there was a really long queue outside the club and that was just to get into the elevator. However, luckily it went pretty quick so we weren't waiting too long but when we got inside it was clear why the queues had been so big.. it was literally packed! Now I'm not one who enjoys big crowds of people, in fact I dislike it quite alot, however despite the looong queue to the bar, it was just about bearable. In terms of the costumes, there was a whole range! Men dressed up as girls tended to be a fairly common one and there were lots of characters from various tv programmes and films. One of the best was a whole group who had dressed up as the Simpson family. I was a little disappointed when the costume contest was announced since I had seen a lot better costumes than the winners... a playboy bunny, wearing very little, won it. I guess slutty halloween does exist in Japan too! On the walk home from the club apparently i decided it would be a great time to start practicing my japanese (yes I can actually speak some now!!!) by shouting random questions and sentences.. maybe I should go to my japanese classes drunk haha?!



So overall, Halloween is a crazy time in Japan. It something that everyone takes seriously and I loved it! Its not like in the UK where you get people who are cynical about halloween and wont make an effort dressing up. I guess this is one thing I really love about the Japanese, if they're going to do something they will do it properly and I am very much the same as this! I was shocked that some people from some other countries don't celebrate halloween so it was amazing to be able to experience their first real halloween with them. For anybody who loves halloween, or who wants the chance to celebrate it 'properly' then Japan is definitely the place to go!

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