Halloween - Japanese Style

Well, we came back from the States a week early to experience our first Japanese Halloween.

I had heard rumors and I had also been WARNED.  Some of the neighbors were ready and excited about the event - some neighbors were telling of how they were packing up and heading out for the evening.  All of this led me to be a little wary.

So we began the day with a trip to the Club so that my son can have a little early trick or treat without any hassles or hiccups in the process.  All went well with a little haunted house in the gym and a few games set up for "little kids" so that they had the opportunity to get some candy, with a little bit of ease!
Afterwards we had lunch and then off to the house to meet our friends and start the evening of Trick or Treat!

We started about 4:30 in the afternoon because here it gets dark about 5:30 now...the Japanese do NOT observe ANY TYPE of Daylight Savings Time.  Which blows because in the middle of winter - it will start getting light at 3:30 AM...yes...AM.  Which is a whole other story when you have a 3 year-old!
I digress.

So... We start our journey and end up walking through the maze of the neighborhood which is a bunch of U-shaped streets.  At one point we encountered a kindly Skeleton Man waving skulls on sticks at us, directing us to go towards his home.

At this house (which was clearly the best decorated house in the neighborhood) there were people, well, Power Rangers, and a random DUCK...standing out front directing you thru the awning that led to the garage. (wait - isn't Kim Kardashian dating one of these Power Ranger guys???) anyway ~

From there we went thru the awning and down into the garage where they had it set up to walk thru crepe paper and decor to get to the table with the treats!
Behind their Treat table they had THEIR Treat table set up...containing food, drinks, a grill and all sorts of items for a lovely evening of celebrating!
I tried to stay...but they, nor my husband, were having any part of that!!!

Needless to say - - - this house was a HIT!   A little strange how "into it" they all were but COOL none-the-less!  Maybe I'm just lazy!

After a few more houses, and losing the rest of our com-padres to sleepy little kids...I cut out early to head back and hand out the candy that we had at the house.
We didn't have any decorations out because we had been in the U.S. for 4 weeks, we only had the porch light on...
when I walked up to the house there were 3 little kids waiting (they must have rung the doorbell) and were a little shocked when I came out from behind the car.

After that - it was like someone let the flood gates loose...

There were kids EVERYWHERE!  It was complete MADNESS I tell you.  I guess the word got out that we had a HUGE bucket of sweets and they came in masses!
At one point there were 30-40 kids deep standing in my driveway and around the corner in front of the next house. My husband and son were still walking the neighborhood getting candy and here I was besieged by kids!
The only way to describe it is - try to imagine that you are at a new restaurant or bar that has just opened up and it is the newest hot-spot in town.  Everyone wants to be there RIGHT NOW!!!  You can't get a table and you can't get a drink because everywhere you turn there are 30 people in front of you trying to do the same thing.  Well, I was the maitre'd, the waiter and the bartender...totally in the weeds (restaurant lingo for those of you lucky enough to never have had such a job)!  So much so that I couldn't even get a picture of it all.
All I could hear was...Trick or Treat-O.  Trick or Treat-O, and the occasional Happy Trick or Treat!
It was great!

Finally after all the craziness died down a little, my husband and son show up to a 3/4 empty goodie bowl and a little bit of a frazzled wife.
My son immediately started handing out the candy - and immediately the girls that showed up were all giggly.  Now I'm not talking about little girls...I'm talking about TEENAGE girls.  Girls dressed in fishnets and short skirts!  There was even one set of girls who asked to take a picture with him because was dressed as Superman too (mind you she was in a short skirt and heels)!  It was a little baffling.  Me and my husband just looked at each other.
Me: proud Mama and a little in awe at my son's ability to remain calm, like he'd been doing that forever!
His Dad:  Proud Papa looking on as his son deals with the ladies, and also shaking his head in disbelief that his youngest of all three sons is STILL the only one who is picking up the women in Japan!!!!!

Anyway, my son handed out the rest of the candy...one piece at a time.  Which was pretty smart considering all the people that kept showing up.  They just kept coming in droves!
The park beside our house, which is in the shape of rectangle, had bicycles parked all along the perimeter - all the way around.  There were cabs dropping people off and masses getting off the buses.

Our neighborhood, which is known for having all the foreigners and expats...gets all the trick-or-treaters...because they know that we all celebrate the holiday and that we have the good SUGARY candy.  The candy here isn't very sweet....so they come to us for the good stuff! For the sugar rush!

All in all it was something to behold.  Something we will never forget.

At the end of our candy bowl - we had to turn off the lights and just go inside so that we wouldn't get stuck in the middle of another mad rush and run out of candy in the middle of the line.

It was all such a whirlwind and seemed to go on FOREVER...but to give you some idea of how many people there were...and how flip-flopped I was ~

it only took about 45 minutes to hand out the biggest bowl of candy we've ever had at Halloween!!!!


We hope yours was one to remember too~
xoxo
Deeds