Halloween has come to Japan in recent years but more as a commercial and decorative event than anything else. I suspect that Tokyo Disneyland, which isn’t actually located in Tokyo but right here in Chiba, has had a lot to do with introducing the celebration to this part of the country.  Disneyland has a Halloween theme throughout October each year. Some larger stores and malls also advertise Halloween events which promise candy to children in costumes and English language schools have promoted Halloween by decorating and holding children’s costume parties. Masquerade is definitely something that appeals to Japanese people but trick-or-treating hasn’t caught on yet and though pictures of jack-o-lanterns and plastic replicas abound, there aren’t any real ones here.

Some Japanese, having been taught that the origins of Halloween date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain during which ghosts of the dead were believed to return to earth, have equated it with their own Obon celebrations which take place during the summer. Obon is a Japanese Buddhist holiday. Families gather to honour the spirits of their dead ancestors by visiting and cleaning the family graves and the spirits of the ancestors are thought to visit the household altars during this time. Personally, I think we do the Japanese a disservice if we teach them that this is what Halloween is all about.

As a child growing up in Powell River on the coast of British Columbia, I loved Halloween. In our home, costumes were never decided on until after school on Halloween day. At that time, with my mother’s help, we dug through old clothes and came out dressed like hobos, gypsies or pirates. As soon as supper was over, we gathered with the other children from the houses closest to our own and trick-or-treated up and down our street collecting a wonderful bag of goodies. In those days, it was safe to accept homemade treats and my mother was known for her delicious popcorn balls. The only way my siblings and I got to taste them was if we trick-or-treated at our own door. My mother would, of course, pretend not to know who we were! Such silly fun and such good memories. The only year that mom didn’t make popcorn balls was the year that I was six. She was in hospital following the birth of my baby brother. I remember helping my father fill bags of candy for the trick-or-treaters and I also remember the hideous looking rubber mask that he bought for me! Incidentally, that baby brother turned fifty a few days ago!

When we kids returned from trick-or-treating, our families gathered across the street from our house in the parking lot behind Bowes Hardware for a giant bonfire. Mr. Bowes always saved some big packing boxes to feed the fire. Hot chocolate was served and as the fire died down, we had our own fireworks show! What a wonderful and exciting evening!

Unfortunately, as a young teacher living in Sedgewick, I learned to hate Halloween. What had once been a time for harmless pranks in rural Alberta had, in our community at least, become a night of vandalism which was directed mainly at schools, churches, businesses and the homes of teachers and RCMP officers. Large groups of teens prowled the streets creating havoc. Year after year, our home was pelted with eggs and other nasty substances. The paint job was totally destroyed but there was no point in repainting when we knew that the new surface would only last until the next Halloween. Fortunately, the generation that celebrated Halloween in this manner has grown past that sort of thing and in recent years, Halloween has once again become a night for the younger children to enjoy. A couple of years ago, we finally had the house repainted.

After dreading Halloween for so many years, it’s been difficult to recapture the delight that it once held for me. As a teacher, I participated in many classroom Halloween parties but I found it difficult to enjoy them knowing what the later hours of the day would hold. Now, I’m teaching at a Japanese English school and my job description includes an entire week of Halloween parties! Because the classes meet only once a week, the event goes on all week so that every children’s class has a party. Teachers are required to wear costumes. Awhile ago, while shopping in a nearby mall, I came across a costume that I couldn’t resist so for the first time in my life, I have a store bought costume! Each day this week, I appear as a big fuzzy jack-o-lantern! Richard was being a bit of a grinch about having to dress up but I dug through a bin of old costumes that have been left behind by previous teachers and found him a clown costume complete with big red squeaky nose! The kids, of course, think our costumes are great and we think they are adorable. Minnie Mouse and Disney heroines such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle from Beauty and the Beast are popular amongst the little girls and we’ve seen witches and pirates of every description. We teach them a few Halloween words, play some games, have some fun without cracking the textbooks and send them home with a bag of candy. Halloween really is for children!

Here’s my favourite costume of the week.  Isn’t he just adorable?

And here’s one little guy who wasn’t feeling well but didn’t want to miss the party.  He slept through most of it!

If you enjoyed my last blog entry, be sure to check out http://www.engrish.com.  It’s a hilarious compilation of bizarre English found in Japan as well as other Asian countries and it appears to be updated almost daily.  Take the time to check out some of the Engrish categories listed on the left side of the main page.  We all need a good laugh once in awhile and anyone who can wander through this site without enjoying a hearty laugh is taking life much too seriously.

Thank you, Janis, for bringing this site to my attention!

At first glance, it would often seem that we’re surrounded by English here in Japan.  Sometimes referred to as Japlish or Engrish, a term which arose from the ambiguity between the “l” and “r” sounds in spoken Japanese, it appears on everything from poorly translated signs to bizarre t-shirt slogans.  Looking for examples can be hugely entertaining and I’ve been known to whip out pen and paper on the train, at school and even in church to write down some of the best ones!

Examples can be found even at home.  The bottom of one of my frying pans has this interesting quote, “The wonderful time where there are a wonderful cooking and a pleasant conversation and peaceful music.”   The bags from our local bakery are really quite poetic.  They say, “Women baking bread on Sunday  With flour dusted cheeks  They push up their sleeves  And at the breadboard knead  With strong fingers, hands and bodies.  Warm and yeasty, the kitchen is Filled with promise.”

T-shirts are the most entertaining, though, and they are absolutely everywhere.  Sometimes, even though the message seems rather garbled, it’s possible to find some meaning in what they say.  For example, “Float a ship on the sea and the foreign country which wants to go” and “Love is walking hand in hand  We is sharing your popcorn” caught my fancy and “BePunctual  A special delivery mailbox  Set one’s watch” seemed to be trying to say something.  T-shirts worn by little girls and grown women often sport sayings such as “Shine of Treasure” and “Special Love Magic” but I wonder what message the wearers are trying to give when they wear things like “The secret of deliciousness” and “Delicious Flavor Source” blazed across their bosoms!   I suspect that they often have no idea what the slogan means.  After all, did the young lady wearing the “Little Miss Jailbait” t-shirt really mean to give that impression of herself?  Some are much worse.  In fact, when Matt and Robin were here, they saw one that Matt wouldn’t repeat in my presence and Richard has seen at least one that I wouldn’t print here!

Spelling mistakes are not uncommon.  For example, one of the children at church was seen wearing “Texas Burguer Favorite Cheese” across the back of his shirt and I had to write down “Right Shine in the Nught for you to tell you that dream” when I saw it on the back of a sweatshirt on the train platform!

Perhaps the funniest examples are the ones where it seems like someone has just opened a dictionary, chosen words at random and strung them together in no particular order.  “Love You Message to Keep Brilliant My Head” is one such example but my absolute favourite is “fascinating nude makes a stomach sold presently”!  What do you make of that?

Signs are fun too.  Here a few of my favourites.  The first one is in our local train station and, after looking at it many times, I actually do understand what it’s trying to say!

This one’s in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo.  We never did figure out whether or not it was okay to walk down that path!

This one, on the grounds of a temple at Kamakura, is my all time favorite.  I have no idea about it either!  There was no water anywhere in the vicinity!

Oh, how I love Japan!

Today could have been a day for missing home and family but instead it was absolutely wonderful and we are just as happy and stuffed as if we’d sat down to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner! Though they had no idea that it was a special weekend for Canadians, our friends Koji and Etsuko had invited us to their home for dinner.

After our usual lunch at church, we accompanied them to their house where the feasting began almost at once. First, Etsuko served coffee and a delicious ‘western’ cake stuffed with fruit and cream. That was followed immediately by Japanese cake and green tea. Shortly after that they informed us that, rather than preparing supper at home, they’d decided to take us to a nearby restaurant for sushi so back into the vehicle we piled and off we went! The highlight of supper for Richard and I turned out to be the unagi! Who would ever have thought that eel would be part of our Thanksgiving dinner or that we would enjoy it so much! It was absolutely delicious. The eating wasn’t over yet though. Once we finished at the restaurant, we went back to the house where we were served a dessert of fresh grapes and Japanese sweets along with more green tea! Wow! As much as I love turkey and pumpkin pie, I didn’t miss it a bit!

Of course, Thanksgiving isn’t only about the food. The fellowship around the table is just as important and oh, did we enjoy that today too! Koji and Etsuko were two of the first people we met when we started attending Hope Church. They’re about our age with grown children and several young grandchildren. Koji speaks English fairly well but Etsuko knows only a few words. In spite of that, she and I hit it off right away and it’s amazing how often I can understand the gist of what she’s said before Koji even translates! It’s hard to explain but there’s an understanding and a bond there that seems to go beyond words. What a wonderful visit we had today, getting to know one another better as we shared some of the joys and heartaches of our lives.

We had anticipated that once the visit was over, Koji would drive us to the nearest station and we’d take the train back home but, in spite of the fact that it meant an hour’s round trip for them, they insisted on delivering us to our door. Chances are that we’ll visit them at home again but our big hope is that they’ll visit us someday, not here in Japan, but in Canada!

When we rode the crowded train home from Tokyo on Thursday evening we witnessed first hand large numbers of tired businessmen making their way home after a long day at work and I was once again reminded of a phenomenon known as the weekend father. When I taught a Japan unit in junior high Social Studies back in Canada, I remember asking the students what they thought this term meant. Based on their own cultural experience, they assumed that I was referring to divorced fathers who only saw their children on the weekends. In Japan, however, the term has a completely different meaning.

Many people living in our area work in Tokyo. They spend an hour or more on the train every morning and every evening. Their workday is a long one and when it’s officially over, the men are often expected to socialize with their coworkers before heading for home. These are the the weekend fathers; men who leave the house every morning before their children are awake and who get back home long after they’re in bed.

Toshikazu, one of my students from last term, is a perfect example. He has a six-year-old son that he adores. Hobbies are very important to the Japanese people. Everybody has at least one. When you ask Toshikazu what his hobby is, he tells you it’s playing with his son. If you ask him what he would most like to do if he had more time, he says he would spend more time talking with his son. He only sees him on Saturdays and Sundays. Somehow that seems very sad.

As I saw the tired men standing on the platform waiting for Thursday evening’s train, some with their eyes closed because they were so tired, I couldn’t imagine doing that every day year in, year out and I wondered how many children yearned to spend more time with them and how many lonely wives waited at home.