Japan Halloween Parties

Another day in Japan, another holiday to celebrate. And what surprises me more than the sheer amount of holidays in Japan is that they never forget to include our American holidays as well, like Halloween. Perhaps to make those of us abroad feel welcome? I got the impression the Japanese were somewhat surprised about this as well, but despite not know much about its origins celebrated the holiday all the same.

Van's Halloween Party

Saturday, the 18th of October, 2008. I got off the train at Van's station and realized I was one of the last ones to arrive. Well, all but Van, of course. There was Celeste, Joel, Kaitlyn, and Van's yet-to-be-girlfriend Kirsten whom I'd never met before. We were all headed to Van's house for a Halloween party, lured with promises of food, candy, and kids with costumes. Van was late and we ended up walking up the large hill towards his house to meet him, upon which time it became immediately apparent why he took so long: she was already dressed full on into her kimono, which allowed for limited mobility (oh baby).


Van's house was the biggest I'd yet seen for a personal house in Japan. In fact, out of the houses I went into during my stay, his easily took the cake. While my host family's home had the necessities and was comfortable to fit three of us, Van's host parents owned a house with a large garage and a gate out front, a very spacious two stories inside, and a garden out back (I think). Certain rooms, like Van's, had a more Western style, with an actual bed above the ground! Van was never able to find out exactly what his host parents' occupations were... After admiring the house and decorations around it, the rest of us changed into our costumes: Celeste into her yukata, Joel into his orange pumpkin/tigger outfit, Kaitlyn into her frog outfit, Kirsten into her witch outfit, and me into my jujitsu gi and sunglasses.


We met Van's host mom, Himuro-san, who was very nice and kind of eccentric like Van was saying, as well as their kids. Van had a very elaborate plan for the evening; each of us foreigners would have a bag of candy with questions, and when the kids would come to one of us in their costumes and say "trick or treat" we would ask them a random trivia question like, "in what country were cell phones created?" They get it right, one piece of candy for them! Eventually the kids started showing up in some of the most random costumes, usually with a certain theme, but others with whatever they could find. We got some absolutely delicious food from a huge table's worth that Van informed (read: warned, j/k) us he helped out with preparing.


As time went on and things got going, I went back and forth between hanging out with friends, eating, playing trick-or-treat with the kids (they were so cute!), and talking to other people who were there. Our friend Paula showed up a little later, too. A lot of my time was actually spent talking with a British man and his Japanese wife, both of whom were fluent in Japanese and English, so I switched between both. He gave me some good tips on studying the language and living in Japan, which I don't seem to remember specifically but I'm sure it made an impact at the time.:p When it started to get pretty late, one of Van's host mom's friends offered to give Joel and I a ride back to our homes.

Dorm Halloween Party

That would not be my only adventure of the week (or holiday), and soon I was preparing for the Halloween dorm party right off campus. This was put on by a student organization and a cover fee was charged at the door, but it turned out to be a great place to make friends that would last the remaining two months of my stay. On Friday, the 24th, I opted not to wear my jujitsu gi to school, but instead changed in the locker room shortly before heading over. I think beforehand I was hanging out in Sakae with some friends, and somehow I made it back to campus.

The dorm was literally packed with people, so tight you couldn't really move sometimes, or take pictures with your friends for that matter (though we managed to). It kind of reminded me of the trains in the morning except with nearly all of the good friends I'd made in Japan so far, and of course with everyone wearing costumes. One popular set of costumes was the traditional school girl and boy (often cross-played), and another was kimonos. Van was a kitty, haha. There was music (which could have been louder), drinks, snacks, and areas to chill, so there was definitely something for everyone.


But like I said, it was a great place to meet people. I talked to some Japanese students randomly inside, then I went outside and was hanging out with others. A few of them were from the International Friendship Club that I went to occasionally (they may have been the ones who put this party on, now that I think about it), and after the party was over we all decided to walk down to a nearby gyuudon (beef over rice) place to get a bite to eat. The only gaijins there were myself, Celeste, and Suguru, and each of us was talking to different students, so it was a refreshing change of pace. I got to finally see how Japanese college students hung out and had fun, and met my buddy Kouta who became my best Japanese guy friend while I was over in Japan. When it got really late, Kouta showed me the way back to the train station and I finally headed home.

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