Halloween in Japan

For all my Chapel Hill peeps, you know that Halloween is one of the most important events for me. Over the past several years, I have spent a great deal of time and energy on my costume creations for the Franklin Street Halloween Adventure and the entire month of October is usually a time of Hallow’s Eve bliss with my anticipation building and building for the magical 31st. Being here in Japan is a bit different from home, and so I was a little concerned about what I would do, and who I would be, for Halloween.



Sometimes it’s best to go with a classic and this year I became my old superhero persona, Green Havoc, the Bulwark of Justice. Since I brought none of my original regalia with me to Japan, I had to create a new costume and thus in the tradition of all great comic book heroes, I took on a familiar, but new, appearance. Fans of GH will recognize the classic crown of knives—a real crowd pleaser—and tall green socks that I wore in days of old (but this time, the knives are real).

My celebration of Halloween took place on Saturday night in the city of Nakatsu after a day of intense deliberation of where to spend the holiday. I joined friends from around the area and despite Halloween having a very minor presence here in Japan, I ended up having a great evening. First stop, purikuri or “print club” at the mall (this is a very Japanese activity to do that involves getting together with your friends and having tiny, fun pictures made that make you look glamorous). A group of us foreigners all donned our costumes and set out to utterly freak out the local Japanese. As if we don’t get enough stares normally, having the added elements of masks, capes, and cat ears made sure every Japanese eye around was staring right at us and asking, “What in Amaterasu’s name?”.

After our mini glamour shots to remind of us of who are real friends are, we headed to dinner. At this point, I was thinking, “Holy cow! Even back home I never went out to dinner in costume!” (except that one time at UNC’s dining hall when I was protesting the Pirate Club). Of course as we entered the establishment we were greeted with whispers and stares and popping around the room was the word “Halloween!” So the Japanese did know about the holiday…and here we were to help internationalize them a little more.

Dinner being done, we set out to our party at Tropi Coco’s, the gaijin bar owned by a Mexican guy named Raoule who speaks Spanish, English, and Japanese and has children by two different Japanese women (his kids help serve food and drinks when the crowd is heavy). Here in this foreigner gathering place, I found a Halloween Mecca of costume enthusiasts all celebrating the holiday. Gaijin and Japanese alike were dressed as all manner of characters and creatures and rocking out to a band with a singer dressed as a Starfleet Captain. I was in heaven.

As if this wasn’t enough, Raoule organized a Halloween parade through the red light district of Nakatsu. All of the costumed people marched through the streets absolutely freaking out/terrorizing the locals and making sure the Japanese still fear us because we’re different. It was awesome (but may have set back the whole integrating into Japanese society thing a little bit). The night ended somewhere around 3:30 AM and I felt that my Halloween had been a fulfilling success.

Now as October gives way to November, and the weather continues its fall into chills and cold, I feel that my Halloween hungry has been sated. My night out in Nakatsu combined with the 2 weeks of Halloween lessons I gave at school (I never want to draw another pumpkin again!) has brought me much comfort. Green Havoc lives on here in Japan and I vow to continue in the traditions set down by the Ehaus Knights and the League of Crusading Champions that inspired me so long ago.

By the way mom, I made sure to check all my candy for shuriken before I ate any.