Halloween in Japan

Psrt 2 of my catch-up-to-the-present posts. Halloween has come and gone in Japan. Thank goodness I packed a cosplay shirt from "Prince of Tennis" (an anime) into my suitcase at the last moment. O the Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to Halloween, I was luckily in 2 of the elementary schools. There, we talked about the origins of Halloween and what Americans do on that night.

I made some worksheets, one for everyone that says "my costume" and has an area to draw. One, for the older kids, is a simple dialogue of "*knock knock* Trick or treat!" etc. In each class, the kids got to draw their own costumes. Some were pretty imaginative, some were the classic vampire and such. After that, I taught the kids "Trick or treat" and gave them candy for saying that line and showing me their costumes. This was in varying degrees, with just "trick or treat" and "thank-you" for 1st graders, and acting out the whole dialogue for the 5th and 6th graders. The children enjoyed the candy, I think. It was sooo expensive though! Maybe $3.50 for 20 pieces, unless you get the really cruddy stuff that noone wants in their Halloween bag. Times that by about 20 kids per class, 2 schools, and it added up real quick.

Then I told the children that on Halloween night, I will be walking around the town of Anan with candy, and if they come up to me saying "trick or treat," they will get candy. Saturday came. Because of my schedule, I only had about 45 minutes to walk around town, between about 5:30 and 6:15. At first I was just feeling odd walking around doing nothing, then a little at a time, children with their parents came up to me saying the famous phrase. The children were so shy and clinging to the parents, who had to urge them repeatedly to even look at me. In the end though, the want for candy won. One little boy, perhaps a preschooler, even came in costume!!! He was a person from Kamen Rider, I believe, if that means anything to anyone. One group of children was passing by in a car and rolled down the window at a red light to say hi. I half dropped, half chucked a handful into the car right before it left to the major enjoyment of the kids. During my pacing I also visited the local gas station and handed some out to the staff and random people getting gas. I also visited some local businesses that were still open and chatted with the owners of the local cornerstore (who speak in somewhat simple, but very fast Japanese). I even received some candy that night!

After handing out some candy to kids on the street (oh my gosh, stranger danger!!!) I got a quick ride to the Anan Kendo, which I hadn't gone to in maybe a month or so. The kids there are always sooooo cute! After practice I gave them candy too, for being so darn cute.

Some of the elementary classes I didn't get to do Halloween till the next week, when I still did the drawing and candy bit, but also added in (thanks to my JET friend Ben) making mummies out of some kids in class. The kids loooved this, and the teachers thought it was really interesting.

In the junior high, the Friday before Halloween, Mr. Kojima and I taught the kids quite in depth about the origins of Halloween and the Day of the Dead, and of course, handed out candy.

There are Halloween decorations in every dollar store here and some grocery stores, and although people know it exists, they don't celebrate it or know what it means really. My mission this year was to educate a little. And of course show people that American holidays rock.


So that's Halloween in Japan-land, up next: persimmons!