A quick perusal of Internet stories about Halloween in Japan state that it's a pretty recent phenomenon. It's true. I think us JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme folks brought it over with us. I'm not claiming we were the first to hold a Halloween party in Japan. But we may have been one of the first to get a lot of young Japanese adults involved.
What is Halloween? Take a look HERE.
My buddy James Jimmy Jive Dalton held a Halloween Party at his tiny little apartment. I don't believe any of the other AETs (Assistant English Teachers) from my neck of the woods made it down, but but I sure as heck did. Jimmy Jive was a very funny guy who could fart on command. Really. No stinky or anything, but a simple fart. He also taught me how to pretend to walk into a pole (making the smacking sound) and then how to stagger about in a daze while women rushed to your aid. He was a true showman.
For some reason at Jimmy Jive's high school,m he was able to convince some of his teachers to join him. As well, a lot of other AETs managed to find dates - and not just with each other - but rather, they brought Japanese folks!
The way I figure it, if the Japanese are interested enough to date a gaijin (foreigner/outsider), then they are probably interested enough to learn about one of our stupid traditions - dressing up and trying to scare people into giving you candy to go away.
So... you want to know what I dressed up as? A Japanese school girl. It probably says more about me than any word I've ever written in these 200+ blog entries. But, like all things mentioned here, don't read too much into it.
My costume had a blouse top, Catholic school girl like skirt, one-size-fits-all-gaijin orange fishnet stockings--okay, right there I'm thinking I've dressed up to look more like a Japanese porno actress rather than a student. look more like - plus I got a pair of high heels, from a lady friend of mine. I didn't have a wig, but with my hair getting long, I did put my hair in pig tails. Oh... I also had on some fire engine red lipstick.
I was not going to get laid tonight. Onani? See HERE.
Still, ever fearless, or perhaps just wanting to see what sort of reaction I would get, I dressed up, left my apartment wearing a trench coat, rode my bike to the train station and then rode the train down 45 minutes south to Jimmy Jive's place.
Arriving in his home town (I can't remember the name!), I was stopped by a local policeman. He asked in broken English where I was going. I said: "James Dalton-san's".
He replied. "Ah, wakata! Dalton-sensei, chotto bakka. (Oh, I see! Dalton-teacher is kindda stupid."
He said bai-bai and walked away.
The party was great I think. Lots to drink, lots of snacks to eat. Lots of blurry people to talk and have fun with. And... we had lots of local Japanese people dressed up in costume - A splendid time was had by all. And the police only had to come twice to ask us to... I'm assuming turn down the music... I mean, everyone was too drunk to understand what he was saying.
You know what the scary part was? Excluding the Japanese natives, I had been in Japan the longest (27 months) and actually knew what the police were saying.
Want to see some photos? Click HERE.
Somewhere Halloween is NOT the drag it used to be,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is by Alice Cooper. He's still cool. You will have to crank up the sound, but it's the original video: KACHINA (Alice's pet boa constrictor).
