Fright Night: Halloween in Japan

Okay.

Japan does not go Trick-or-Treating.

In fact, my students tended to be surprised when I described this Celtic born holiday and its American ways. However, they did understand the concept of Jack-o-lanterns, witches, and candy.

I volunteered to work at a neighboring (by that I mean 3hrs. by train) city's elementary students Halloween Party on the 18th. I dressed as a school girl, borrowing the junior high school uniform from a high school girl I befriended. The party was super cute, with around 500 kids in two shifts of 1.5 hours. They came in various degrees of holiday dress. I first helped out at the bean-bag toss but got bored after an hour and went outside for a break. There I discovered other kids waiting to attend the later half of the party. I ended up playing "Simon Says" with them and they called me "Sailor Moon", a popular anime/manga in Japan.


Though wearing a girl's uniform was fun, my friend Dansby and I really wanted to have a gender-bender JHS partner costume. Wearing the male uniform was hilarious and since he has long hair, Dansby made a pretty good Japanese school girl. A;; I did was darken my eyebrows and gel my bangs but I really looked like a boy:

Girls kept approaching me and asking me to pose with them. We went to a lounge bar that was hosting a party and won best couple costume. Afterward, we headed to the biggest city in our prefecture and danced all night. The ride home at 6 in the morning was something else. I was completely sober (as usual) but everyone else (driver excluded of course) was drunk/tired and completely ridiculous.

Me and my prize:Too bad I didn't drink it :P