Halloween in Japan

I probably haven't been so disappointed about Halloween being over since I was six. I have discovered that Japanese people think Americans are a lot more gung-ho about Halloween than we actually are. Don't get me wrong, I love candy and seeing little kids dressed up in costumes, but my trick-or-treating, partying, and even pumpkin carving days are long gone. Well, that was true, until I came to Japan. As a cultural ambassador, I am able to relive and spread the joy of holidays to children and adults around the world. It sounds cheesy, but it's pretty magical.

The last two days have been a Halloween whirlwind. I feel fortunate that my schools and English Circle have taken such a great interest in my culture. However, I have had to do a lot of research about the history and origins of my own country's holiday. Did you know that kumo means spider in Japanese and kyuuketsuki means vampire? When's the last time you bobbed for apples on Halloween? Did you know the origins of Halloween encompasses multiple religions and traditions from many countries? Where do Jack-O-Lanterns come from? The more you know, man. 

First, I team-taught three classes at one school. One class carved jack-o-lanterns, one watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and had a mummy contest, wrapping each other in toilet paper. I gave a general explanation of Halloween to the last class, and they had a jack-o-lantern design contest and did a Halloween word search. I especially enjoyed showing the pumpkin carving group how to dig their hands into the slimy, seedy goop inside the pumpkin and remove it with disgusting ease. Unfortunately, I can't post photos of my students here, but if you visit my town blog you can see them after 11/7/12.

I visited another school on  Halloween, and they were absolute fanatics, mostly because the principal (my only female principal) is also the first grade English teacher, extremely well-traveled and skilled at English, and knowledgeable and interested in foreign cultures.  In addition, I am the first American ALT they have had at their school, so they are very excited to learn about a holiday that some other English-speaking countries do not share. When I arrived, I noticed about 10 gigantic pumpkins ready to be carved.

My other team teacher had ordered some expired Halloween-themed pretzels to give to students during class in a trick-or-treat role play. For the first grade class, the principal ordered 3 pumpkin pies, not only using pumpkin as an ingredient but also as a decorative theme. I don't know where she got the tableware!

Even after watching Halloween movies, pumpkin carving, eating pumpkin pie, trick-or-treating, and dressing students up as mummies, there was more excitement to be had! The town English Circle held a combination Welcome Party / Halloween Party in a small building, by day a restaurant where special needs people work, and by night a Halloween jamboree. The English Circle planner is a retired English teacher whose husband is a Buddhist monk. She has studied English on her own for more than 20 years, and she is eager to praise the language: "English is the key to understanding people in the world," she says. 

Walking into the room was like walking into another world. The room was fully decorated with Halloween posters and jack-o-lanterns. The 16 or so people who attended were dressed in various thrown-together costumes, the women in witch hats, two of the older men with witch hats and some yarn hair sewed on, even our handicapped member in a wheel chair sported a bloody knife going through his head. One member was in a Dalmatian jump suit, one wore a panda hat, and one middle aged man borrowed his daughter's costume from last year and admitted that he didn't know what it was: it looked like a carrot hat with a bib worn backwards. The tables were covered in food: gourmet platters, Yakumo cheese (they recommended we dip it in soy sauce and it was divine), and snacks galore. 

In addition to some lovely English conversation, I explained some Halloween traditions and fielded questions about what candy corn has to do with actual corn since it doesn't really look like corn and isn't made of corn, and what's up with graveyards since Japanese people are mostly cremated. I also took the liberty of connecting the dots between burials, graveyards, and the zombie phenomenon, since, in Japan, there aren't a lot of dead bodies around to come back to life. I guess when the zombie apocalypse hits, I know where I'm going! Except there are basically no guns here so fending off any of the (rare but existing) Christian burials would be quite difficult.

There was a Halloween quiz, tea and a flute performance, and a grand thank you at the end in which my husband and I were given flowers, a present, and two bottles of alcohol. We received so many gifts - a cake from a member and some sweets from another, even kabocha squash and sweet potatoes.

Holidays are a reason to celebrate and to share joy with others, I realized. Even thousands of miles from home, the "Halloween spirit" is alive and well! Happy Halloween!