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canadian-girl · Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 46 Location: yangmei, taiwan

Can anyone tell me if Hallowe'en is a big deal in Japan? I haven't heard much about it. I LOVE Hallowe'en, and i'd like to put up a couple hallowe'en items in my place and classroom, but i don't want to be disrespectful. Growing up, we always made a huge deal with Hallowe'en (partially because its my biggest festival of the year)...we did everything from a graveyard in the front yard....a haunted house for kids....to a witches coven (dry ice in a cauldron with rubber mice and bats...lol...kids loved it!), and of course handed out candies. Do kids trick or treat in Japan? I probably wont do the extreme in Japan, but would like to still but up a few decorations....any help would be great! thanks!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

No, it is not a big deal. You might see a few sparse decorations in stores, and some foreigner-related partying might occur, but that's about all. Don't expect streets filled with kids trick and treating.

Celeste · Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:55 pm Post subject:

At some of the elementary schools I work in, it is a very big deal indeed. We do Hallowe'en themed lessons for the whole month of October culminating in a Hallowe'en party at the end of the month with costumes and trick-or-treating through the school (PTA moms sit in the classrooms and hand out candy as the kids run through the halls screaming "trick-or-treat" at the top of their lungs) We read Hallowe'en stories, and a lot of the teachers that I work with have tapes of "Hallowe'en carols" that they want me to teach the kids (I still haven't been able to convince them that I have never heard these songs outside of Japan!) We usually do a bulletin board with Happy Hallowe'en and some decorations with the vocabulary item names (witch, ghost, bat, etc.) Ask your school. Most schools love to get a little foriegn festival info here.

Eleckid · Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Posts: 102 Location: Aichi, Japan

Halloween is a big thing at my school~

In the entire month of October, we teach Halloween vocabs for our bingo games, during the last week of Oct, each student makes a craft (I think this year we're not doing the Jack-O-Lantern, but a black cat hanging decoration). In the last week, each teacher also wears a bright orange Halloween long sleeves t-shirt (provided by the school) to work. We hang the crafts up, take pics, & on Oct 30th we have huge Halloween parties, 4 to be exact (3 for dif age group kids, & 1 for adults). Everyone dresses up & we have games, haunted house, spooky music, trick or treat, etc. It's a lot of fun! My school is now FILLED with Halloween decorations!

BUT kids in Japan don't go trick or treating. Our school celebrates it cuz it's an English school.

Willy_In_Japan · Joined: 20 Jul 2004 Posts: 329

Be careful with regards to Candy. I suggested maybe giving out candy at Halloween, but my JTE said 'no, that isnt done'.

It seems that candy is not allowed to be eaten in our Junior High. Is it against the rules? I asked.....he said "no". So, how do they know not to eat candy then at school? He replied that it was "just common sense".

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Willy, I wonder if a Canadian or American teacher might say the same thing about candy being inappropriate when he or she doesn't know the context. Halloween is very much a North American event, and out of context, it might seem really strange to a foreigner (read Japanese here) who's never experienced it.

At my school, we have so many returnee kids from English-speaking countries that it generates this kind of cultural context. They expect a big Halloween event every year! What's worse, they tell their regular stream classmates about Halloween and they all come knocking on my classroom or office door to trick-or-treat! I need to take out a loan to buy candy Laughing

But seriously, Halloween is a very teachable context for vocabulary that the kids want to know - ghost, scary, vampire, haunted, spooky - and also to provide a fun situation to practice language. Our second year kids do a listening, speaking and spelling exercise with Halloween poetry (writer-runner activity), a preposition review game using a haunted house, and they get a little bit of cultural presentation and some laughs.

Anybody's welcome to pm me for activities.

PS Halloween's my favorite holiday, too.

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

Try the Yamanote line from Shinjuku departing at 9:00 p.m. at Halloween for a wild party. Allthough, the police may have banned it as the last time I heard some boneheads were tearing down posters and turning off the lights in the cars. The last time I went the police were waiting at the end in full riot gear.

Trick-or-treat?