I absolutely love Halloween. Even just a hint of fall weather conjures memories of carving pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds, and unique, home-made costumes. Needless to say, I was not going to let this Halloween season go unnoticed simply because I was not in America. So we started a few weeks early...
Lauren
Leslie
Our final products!
Hello Kitty (Me), Jack Skeleton (Leslie), Kitty (Me), Skeleton girl (Lauren)
I chose to carve two pumpkins so I would have enough pumpkin seeds to roast to take to Tim. Heaven forbid he miss the season just because he was out to sea!
I met Tim (and his boat) on a port call in Puerto Princess, Philippines last week. The Philippines appeared to celebrate Halloween far more than Japan! They had "boo-ffets" and parties (the Japanese merely decorate).
Outside of our hotel
A few days later, it was finally Halloween. And I had the perfect costume for the chilly night. Look who made an appearance! CAT LADY!
I started my night around 4:30 down in Zama, where I picked up a carload of Japanese students. Yes, that is right I celebrated Halloween AND got paid to do it! There were four of us American girls chaperoning twelve Japanese kids and five Japanese adults through the crowded streets of Navy homes.
Jen (XO's wife)
Pretty festive Japanese kids
After trick-or-treating. We dropped the kids off; but the night was not over! Michelle and I headed back to base where we picked up our friend Brittany. From there, we huffed over to a haunted trail put on by the law enforcement of the base. I am not one for anything even remotely scary! But, after a lot of laughter and screams, we made it through the trail and lived to tell the story. Frightened and constantly turning to watch our backs, we walked over to the coffee shop on base for hot chocolate.
A pretty good night for a Halloween in Japan, if I may say so myself!
Happy Halloween! And may you also escape the ghosts and goblins this Halloween night!
I love the pumpkins. I don't know, scary Hello Kitty pumpkins is almost disrespectful in Japan, no? Your costume looked great! Did the Japanese children like the holiday? No one here gets it and I don't try to explain any of the Halloween decorations scattered about the compound and I am not attending the Halloween Boool this evening. (But I do have a little Halloween monkey beanie baby a friend mailed to me!) But I am glad you didn't miss an important US tradition and that you did it up in a style as only you could have done. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThanks! The Japanese do understand Halloween to an extent. I think Japanese children enjoy trick-or-treating on base. However, I did have a friend say that some of the Japanese children actually gave her candy while at her door. Only in Japan!
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