You will need a little background. I live in Japan. There are very few Halloween
decorations here as the holiday is not celebrated. Trick or Treating is very new ( like in the last 5
years). And has mostly been
confined to businesses handing out suspicious and icky candy to children under
7 dresses as either a princess or power ranger or Pokeman.
So in previous years when my
11 year old daughter dressed as a pirate or scary fairy and my 9 year old son
was a Jedi, we tended to stick out among the trick or treaters. Also being blonde and taller than your
average Japanese does not help us blend in. If you can’t blend, go anyway! That is my motto while in Japan.
In January we moved back to
Japan to a little neighborhood called Oyamacho. This is really, for Japan, a tiny area. It only has ONE chome! But for non-Japanese readers, it is
comprised of about 30 small residential blocks, mostly houses and 3 story
apartment buildings. Oyamacho’s
claim to fame is the Fireman’s College.
It has one park with 2 baseball diamonds. It does not even have an elementary school.
Imagine my surprise when I
found out the Oyamacho is the number one neighborhood for trick or treating in
all of Tokyo, perhaps even all of Japan!
Slowly my neighbors have been filling me in on the details.
Last year they report that
there were 3000 kids trick or treating on the street behind ours. I have heard differing reports but none
less than 1000!
Here is what I know so
far. A few families get together
and set up a table out in front of their houses. Houses are decorated.
You hand out candy in an orderly line to all the kids that show up. Costco lollipops are a good value (300
for $10) so the candy is not very exciting; you are going for quantity not
quality. Trick or treating starts
at precisely 7:00 pm and ends at 8:30.
TV news trucks come around and film the houses, kids and
decorations. And don’t knock on
the President of Uniqlo’s house because he does not give out candy (but he
could give out orange and purple socks….that would be cool).
There also seems to be an
element of trying to scare the little kids, either with costumes or spooky
props. So far all the stories I
have been told have seemed a little mean with gaijin trying to scare very small
Japanese kids. Considering toddlers
often burst into tears if we look at them on the train, I have opted to try and
improve Japanese kid-gaijin relations and will not be purposefully trying to
scare them. Doesn’t mean it won’t
happen though.
You invite all your friends
to the event, but ask them to bring extra candy so you are not footing the bill
for giving out to 3000 kids.