Halloween? Probably Not
As I went shopping at the local supermarket today, I saw something that I hadn’t seen before in Japan: a substantial Halloween display.
Halloween has never been a holiday of note in Japan. I have never seen trick-or-treaters, and outside of some communities with heavy American populations, I don’t think there has been any in Japan.
Not that this display suggests will will be any costumed kids. Yes, the Kit-Kats on sale are bags of the mini-bite-sized variety one stocks up on for costumed visitors, but note the rest: pre-packaged candy boxes, already full. Likely this is just like many other imported holidays in Japan: a commercial excuse for sales. A gimmick, in short.
As my sister-in-law noted in her blog recently (and I noted three years ago), Christmas is done much the same way in Japan. While a few people have taken to putting up Christmas lights (even the local hilltop tower is lit up), people in Japan generally don’t get a Christmas tree, don’t exchange presents (not for Christmas, anyway), and don’t decide whether to unwrap gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. But a lot of “Christmas cakes” are sold, along with foam-cast stockings/boots filled with candy–very much indeed like some of the candy items shown in the photos above.
At least Christmas in Japan has some odd angles to it–for example, it’s considered “the thing to do” for men to take their girlfriends out to expensive restaurants and them for them to spend the night at a love hotel. And–god knows why–Kentucky Fried Chicken is the dinner of choice for huge numbers of people, to the extent that you have to wait hours to get an order filled. How that got to be a popular pastime is beyond me.
So far, all I’ve seen of Halloween outside of novelty shops in Japan is what you see above–but it was a bit of a shock to see. Kind of like, the confection companies of Japan, wanting another payoff holiday like Valentine’s Day (women give chocolate to men), White Day (a domestically contrived ‘holiday’ acting as kind of a ‘reverse’ Valentine’s day, where men give cookies and other baked goods to women), and Christmas (cakes and candies), have suddenly decided to push Halloween in Japan as well, hoping it’ll take.
I didn’t see many people buying. I’ll have to ask around to see if it’s catching on.
The only time I’ve seen Halloween being celebrated in a similar fashion to the U.S. was when your brother and I were still working for conversation schools. Both of our respective schools had halloween parties where students could wear costumes. I don’t know if they still do it or not.
I don’t think trick or treating will ever catch on in Japan. I think there’s something about the social environment that’d make them feel odd about knocking on strangers’ doors asking for candy.
I’m sure candy retailers would like to get the ball rolling but I think the public isn’t going to go along. Fortunately for them, those bite-size bags fit in with the usual small portion sizes candy is offered in so they can sell them regardless.
I have a student whose husband works for Meiji and I think I’ll ask her to speak to her husband about how Halloween is seen by a major candy producer.
In my area, (not too many foreigners) some apartment buildings organize a trick or treat night for the kids, and my school has enlisted the local merchants in our nearby arcade to participate in a trick-or treat event for all our young students. We have a giant party and the first part of the night kids walk up and down the arcade stopping at the shops and shouting TRICK or TREAT. Almost all the parents wear costumes, too.
Great fun and the kids are super cute.