Halloween in Fukuoka

The little one always asked the question, "Do the Japanese celebrate Halloween in Japan?"  It also made me wonder.  Well, before we moved here Kevin spent his first Halloween here in Japan without us.  He told us that there were some that do celebrate Halloween.  Of course, the little one was excited to know that.

However, their choices of Halloween costumes were very limited.  You can always go to Donqui, which sells all kinds of random things, but we are looking at the "sexy" costumes.  This is a no-go for us since we are looking for children's costumes.  Every year I would either buy a costume of KK's choice or make one.  It was quite difficult for me to make one since I have yet to find a really good craft store.  A couple of weeks before the big day, I go off wandering when I don't have work to search for fabrics and crafts.  What to do?  It was a bit frustrating.  This year, KK decides that she wants to be something scary for Halloween.  Hmm.. scary?  What is scary to KK?  A SPIDER.  Yes.  A spider.  But everywhere we went were selling "witch" costumes!



I look up tutorials on how to make a spider costume and what kind of makeup ideas to paint her face; the whole nine-yards.  Momma does not do things half-@$$ed, especially knowing she will be entering the school's "fashion show."  The night before the big day, I finally found a craft-store!  It was a huge one too!  Who knew the that the little fabric store I walk past everyday in Nishijin goes up 4 floors!  I was as happy as a clam at this point.  I had to rush to get back since I promised Kevin I'd help him with school stuff before my afternoon class starts.  Off I go...

Now we are at the night before the big day.  I was already tired from running around shopping and teaching the same afternoon.  While KK was working on her homework, I was working on her costume.  I had a needle and thread in one hand and black knee high socks in the other.  I started hand sewing all her little spider legs.  Ah this brought back memories of my childhood sitting in a hot garage helping my mother sew a thousand shirt in what I called a "sweat shop." HA!

The morning of the Halloween Fashion Show we had to get the little one up an hour earlier so I can work on her make up.  I start painting her face and getting ready.  45 minutes later, she's a spooky black spider!  She was quite satisfied with her face makeup and costume.  All the hard work was well worth it when you get to see your little one's big smiling grin.  Happy Mother here.  TeeeHeee... I felt like a proud parent.

There was one thing I really didn't think it through.  How was she going to put on her jacket over her 8 legs that are sewn together?! The mornings have started to get a big chilly and we are on the coast right next to the ocean.  It's a bit cold.  What to do?  Well,  we had to stuff some arms with her real arm in her jacket.  It looked a bit silly, but at least she was warm going to school on her bike.

Apparently, Kevin ditched her as he had to rush in to work.  KK felt embarrassed as all the little Japanese kids walking to school stared at her. It's ok, it's for Halloween.  She should enjoy being dressed up and just have fun with it.

I get to school to watch the fashion show.  I decided to join the fun and paint my face too.  I went in as a Sugar Skull.  Kevin told me not to be scary because we didn't want to make the little kids cry.  Darn! No Killer Clown for me!  However, I got a few frightened looks from the really young students.  I had a few that just shied away from me as they were staring at the spooky face paint.

I have to admit, there were so darn cute little ones in their little costumes.  It was quite enjoyable to see all the children participate and have fun with the day.  The staff and students prepared a "cat walk or runway" in the gym for all the students to walk down and strut their stuff.  Grade by grade, they walked down the "cat walk."  From Grade 1 to Grade 5 they did a competition for Most Original. Best Homemade, Most Spookiest, Most Funniest and so on.  They also had teachers, parents and babies/siblings of students participate.  It was a fun event.  Our little spider won the "Most Spookiest Costume" in her 4th Grade Class.  If you seen the rest of the costumes, there wasn't much of a competition since EVERYONE was just so darn CUTE!

Later in the evening, our school and parents hosts a trick or treating night for the students.  We all meet at the Annex and get a map of all the houses that passes out candies.  When we first got to the annex, all I could see was a BIG BLOB of children on the stairs.  Talk about spooky AHAHha!!!  We met up with KK's little friends and parents.  We take the map and off we went.  Of course, we went into the really nice neighborhoods.  The walk was quite enjoyable and safe.  The children had a really good time trick or treating and being with their fellow schoolmates.  I was really glad the school hosted something like this because our children wouldn't have to miss out this kind of event if they were back home in the States.

Over the weekend and on Monday the actual day of Halloween, I was really surprised to see all kinds of groups of children dressed up and being out.  Of course, there were plenty of "witches" to see.  Because it's not a normal holiday, parents and children group up and plan the events.  There was actually a large Halloween Festival in town, but we didn't go.  Fun times.

So what did Kevin do?  Well, Secondary didn't celebrate Halloween at school, so he was so sweet to create a candy claw from his robotics kit for his students.  All his students got a chance to play with the candy claw and got some candy from Mr. T. for Halloween.  My hubby is a nerd, but he's a sweet nerd.  Hahaha... 

Check on the slideshow from our Halloween:
unable to view? Click here: Halloween 2011