Halloween in Japan    Oct.15, 2009

Black cat, witch, bat, jack-o-lantern, monster, ghost, spider, vampire…..Those are the characters of Halloween.  Recently decorations, costumes and trick-or-treating became popular in Japan.  In U.S, on the other hand, I suppose celebrating Halloween is getting smaller maybe because there were several terrible incidents happened over Halloween and maybe because Christians feel unbiblical about it. 
Dressing their children up in Halloween costumes might be some kind of boom among young mothers.  Especially when they go to Disney resorts they can get a candy by saying ‘Trick or Treat’ in Japanglish to a staff.  Disney characters and the whole park are decorated for Halloween.  Their influences are quite big.  Disney goers were fascinated by the magic. 
Now even cleaning shops, candy stores, kindergartens, nursery schools, supermarkets, department stores, fashion stores, and not to mention cram schools as well as language schools are to follow this boom. 
Japanese people who like to enjoy seasonal atmosphere took it as one of the main festivals for October, which used to have no such interesting festivals except sports day events. 
Orange and black are the Halloween colors.  Maybe Japanese liked this color coordination. 
Personally I don’t like it.  I hope that Japan should take in Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter spirit in its seasonal festivals.  If once Disney resort starts to feature Thanksgiving and Easter things will be changed.  I might contact Disney about it.  I love Thanksgiving spirit.  Or I could be the one to start spreading Thanksgiving spirit.