A day late

In Japan, Halloween was more or less non-existent 10 years ago. Recently, it's started catching on. Most ALTs bring Halloween into the classroom and expose the kids there, but also dance clubs and other establishments and organizations have been having Halloween costume parties. I was invited to three Japanese hosted Halloween parties this year (three!).

I went to one last night at an Italian restaurant, which also had a week-long Jack-O-Lantern carving contest. There were some really good costumes and some cool pumpkins. It's fun to celebrate Halloween with people who have never done it before. Most people have dressed in costumes at some point, given the big cosplay scene in Japan (dressing up like anime characters, etc), but not for Halloween.

Trick-or-treating also doesn't happen, but most people know the concept and the phrase, especially my students. I had many students run up to my on Thursday asking for candy, but they had to settle for pumpkin shaped stickers. They still went crazy for those. I wonder if in another 10 years if neighborhood trick-or-treating will happen in Japan. Only time can tell!