Little Demons ~ Original Haiku
Looking at the event calendar, I see that a certain day is coming...
the little demons
are preparing
When I first arrived in Japan some time ago, Halloween was mostly unknown. People who had some familiarity with Western customs knew the name and maybe a few key features of the day, such as trick or treat, but it was largely unknown. Within the last ten years, though, the day has exploded from mostly unknown to well-known and pretty popular. Kids love the day (of course) and young adults do too; a little too much in the case of the latter group, as they have been causing a lot of problems in Tokyo the past few years.
How exactly this change happened so quickly, I'm not entirely sure. It is a little funny because I used to joke about Japan stealing Western holidays and that Halloween was next. Japan had borrowed Christmas and Valentine's Day (giving V-Day their own unique twist and spinning the Western V-Day into a separate holiday called White Day). Both of these adoptions seemed to me to have been motivated by department stores and, as Spaceballs put it, "the search for more money" and Halloween or Easter seemed like prime candidates for the next one. While the cuteness of the Easter Bunny seemed right up Japan's alley, I thought the religious angle might be off-putting (then again, that didn't stop Christmas) so I was betting on Halloween. And it seems like I bet correctly! ...I really should put my luck into winning the lottery or something instead of wasting it on things like predicting what holiday Japan adopts next.
Anyway, Halloween is now a part of this country and will probably keep growing here. Which takes us to my haiku. Treat or treating is still not a thing here, except in limited cases, but there are many many Halloween themed events and kids parties. My kids have already been to two of them.
So even here in this country, the little demons are preparing for the big day.
❦
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon. |
I didn't know that Japan is already somehow Americanized with those customs, I think that has transcended so that something that is only from the United States, is now global, and it is understandable, in terms of the globalization of customs that can generate wealth.
!BBH
Yep, Japan is more Americanized all the time. At least in some things.
@dbooster! @lanzjoseg likes your content! so I just sent 1 BBH to your account on behalf of @lanzjoseg. (1/5)
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I know when I was on Okinawa the American kids did the trikc or treating, but I am not sure I recall seeing the Okinawaian kids doing any. SO I don't thin kit had caught on there yet. At least not in large scale.
I think the main barrier against Trick or Treating is older people who still are clueless on the day, despite it not appearing everywhere (in the department stores, on TV, etc). Given that, I imagine it will still be a few more years before it starts to be a thing.
Maybe you should have just invested in a costume company or something like that. I bet they are cleaning up! We still have those seasonal Halloween USA stores that pop up for about a month around this time of year in empty retail spaces and then they disappear just as quickly.
I should have!
Hmm... maybe I should invest in an Easter Bunny store to beat the rush to that holiday coming here!
For sure. It's going to hit eventually!