Halloween in Japan #1

As Halloween has its origin in my home country, Ireland, I have observed Halloween in Japan with interest! They don’t celebrate it like at home: there is no trick or treating or halloween night bonfires; but they do mark the event and celebrate it in different ways. 

This year, for the first time since I came in 2000, I went to a Halloween Parade.  There were a number of parades over the weekend past, 25th & 26th October, but we met new friends at the one in Kawasaki.  Kawasaki is a city on the Tokyo side of Kanagawa, a 10 minute train ride from Tokyo JR’s Shinagawa train station.

The parade started at 2.30pm and supposedly had around 3,000 participants.  There were a lot of witches and pumpkin girls, but what’s halloween without them!   If you are looking for a Halloween costume idea for this Friday, you might be inspired by some of the below!:

Movie characters Halloween costumes

Japanese Jack Sparrow look-a-like

Japanese Jack Sparrow

As a fan of Battle Royale, I appreciated this one:

Battle Royale costume

Japanese Harry Potter

Dream girls:

Japanese

Trekkies?:

Clone Troopers from Star Wars

No parade in Japan would be complete without some Disney and Anime characters:

The Genie from Aladdin

Pokemon character? And Snow White one

Snow white two

 

Peter Pan

Scary

Happy Halloween!

Some good ghosts

 

Original

Russian Nesting Dolls

 

 

Pumpkin Themed Halloween Costumes

Baby Pumpkin!

 

Pumpkin Girls

Sexy pumpkin girls

Pumpkins

All photos taken at the Kawasaki Halloween Parade 2008

Japanese Festival Foods #1: ‘What you like fried’!!

Okonomiyaki is one of my favourite Japanese festival foods.  Of course, it can be prepared or eaten at any time, but it is particularly synonymous with festivals.  Okonomi means “what you like” and “yaki” means fried or grilled. Hence translating in to “what you like fried”!  And as this English translation implies, the ingredients of okonomiyaki differ depending on the cook, all cooked in a batter of flour, grated yam, water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage.  

Here is a man preparing Okonomiyaki at a stall at the kawagoe autumn festival:

Japanese festival food #1 - Okonomiyaki

For more information on Okonomiyaki visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

For an Okonomiyaki recipe:

http://www.japan-guide.com/r/e100.html

Japanese telegraphs, デンポー 電報

We recently had a celebration in Japan to mark our wedding in June.  We didn’t have a blessing, just a wedding reception: hirouen, 披露宴.  So much of the reception was different to the way it is in my homeland.  One of the things I was most excited about was our telegraphs from people who weren’t there.  The reason I was so excited about this was because when I was studying Japanese in University our translation lecturer chose a number of newspaper articles for us to translate on Japanese telegraphs; denpo, デンポー,　電報. 

 

In Japan when a person sends a telegraph it is not just a message on a piece of paper.  Normally it comes as a card and usually it comes with a present.  Yes, a present!  We received eight telegraphs. Only one of which didn’t come with a present, but it came in an elaborate card. 

 

It is quite common to receive Disney themed telegraphs and I was delighted we received two of this type.  Below you can see Minnie Mouse and Winnie the Pooh telegraphs.  Winnie is holding a pod in his left hand (your right!), Minnie one her right hand (your left!), and within these pods are the actual telegraph messages.

Disney telegraph posts, denpo, for a Japanese wedding

 

My husband’s junior high school rubgy team sent us a telegraph and they chose to send a big bunch of balloon’s with it.  There was one massive balloon with a number of other balloons inside it.  The hotel prepared a needle on a stick for us, so that ourselves and the children at the reception could pop the balloons.  I believe this is common practise when balloons are received.  Below you can see my niece hesitantly popping one of the balloons:

Popping a balloon at a Japanese wedding reception

Of the other four telegraphs we recieved, one came with a minature Van Gogh painting, one with dried flowers in a frame, one with tea coasters and one with a beautiful fan.  Below is a photo of all the gifts, bar the balloons, we received with our denpo (Japanese telegraphs).

Some typical Japanese denpo / telegraph presents