Halloween parade in Kawasaki, largest of the Halloween festivities in Japan (REUTERS/Yuya Shino)
Today’s picture in Japan Today is of a Halloween parade with about 3,000 participants and over 100,000 spectators. Every year in Japan there’s noticeable increase in Halloween decorations, and now there’s more than I recall ever seeing in Britain.
It’s a fine example of the way Japanese adopt and adapt foreign ways and make them their own (foreign ways, but not foreign people!). Christmas has already become the well-established celebration of Kurisumasu, complete with Colonel Sanders chicken, romantic dinner parties and obligatory gift-giving. The religious element of course is missing – as it is by and large in the secular West.
Halloween is a strange one. ‘Happy Halloween’ is becoming a common slogan now in Japan, though what’s happy about it I’m not sure. But the festival does seem to fit in nicely with the seasonal calendar that the Japanese treasure, with pumpkins having something of a harvest festival feel. It’s also an occasion for ‘cosplay’, which draws on the rich traditions of kabuki, Noh masks and geisha etc. Moreover, there seems to be something in the Japanese psyche that is attracted to ghosts and the spirits of the dead. One thinks of Noh, Obon and ancestor worship, for instance.
Many of Japan’s ‘traditions’ have been drawn from China in ancient times. It seems we are witnessing history in progress as Halloween and other celebrations are being adopted from the West. At some point in the future I expect Halloween will be incorporated somehow into Shinto, and today while visiting a shrine in Okayama prefecture I came across the fruit below displayed at the shrine office, alongside all the Shinto goods for sale. Haha, I thought, it won’t be long before little pumpkin amulets are for sale too…..
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An article in Japan Today examines the phenomenon of Japanese Halloween, dating the recent boom back to theme parks and the year 2000. To read about it, click here.
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Quince displayed on the counter of the shrine office at Achi Jinja in Okayama
It’s good to see the Japanese getting their Halloween on!
We noticed lots of Halloween references during our visit to Japan in the first half of October. It made us wonder about the relevance to the Japanese, which your article describes well John. Certainly there were a lot more pumpkins and ghosts on display there than in Australia, which is already into full Christmas consumerism. Less than 2 shopping months to go!
Hello Jann. I noticed the very next morning after Halloween, the staff at my local Starbucks had changed into Christmas mode! As always in Japan, the seasonal transition was startlingly prompt and efficient….