Last night Chris and I were invited by his assistant coach to attend a Halloween party at his neighborhood. We had no idea what to expect, mostly because Halloween doesn't have much of a presence throughout Japan. Stores are not stock-piled with Halloween candy, I couldn't find a single children's costume and I don't believe anyone in Tomakomai has ever actually carved a Jack-O-Lantern. In fact, a standard 8 inch pumpkin (small by Green Bay standards) cost a MINIMUM of $20.00 USD.
In preparation of the big night, I headed to the local mall and stocked up on as much American candy I could find. I found regular and peanut M&M's, Nestle Crunch Bars and four different types of KitKats. They make every possible flavor of KitKats in Japan. I passed on the Aloe and Wasabi flavored ones and instead purchased the more appealing flavors such as: dark chocolate, blueberry and white chocolate with caramel.
The neighborhood families gathered pre-treating to chit-chat and take pictures as a group. I estimate there were around 30 children (aged from 2-13) and around 15 adults. The entire group walked around the neighborhood and visited the participating houses one by one to gather their candy. Since Chris and I didn't have a house, we used our car as our 'house for the night'. All of the children were so polite and happy to practice their English with us. They were astonished when Chris and I started throwing handfuls of candy in their bag instead of just one or two peices. It was very cute to hear all the children try to say "Trick-or-Treat" and "Happy Halloween."
For the most part, halloween costumes in Japan are very generic. We had several Disney Princesses and pirates and just as many children dressed as witches. As cute as they all were....this is a picture of our favorite costume of the night (maybe of all time).
Yes, this is a gun wielding elephant. Yes, this boy is only five years old. And yes, he ran around all night trying to gun down every person in attendance. This child was h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s!!!!!! I can only imagine what kind of trouble he will cause his parents in ten years.
After the kids were finished trick-or-treating we all headed to a local beer garden for some dinner. The beer garden reminded us of a 'family style' restaurant with long tables and TONS of food. Each table had several grills and pots where everyone cooked their own food as they wished. This 'cook your own food' seems to be a reoccurring theme at most Japanese restaurants. It's actually pretty fun and its been a great way for Chris and I to learn how to cook authentic Japanese-style cuisine.
As we were leaving the restaurant Chris was asked if he would mind going back in to talk to 'one of his fans'. I believe the word 'fan' is an understatement. This guy was completely bananas about meeting Chris. Apparently he is a huge fan of Chris's dad and the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. He told us he has a DVD of that game and he watches it every single day. This guy was half drunk with excitement and half drunk off the keg of beer he seemed to have already drank. He was busting out the 'I Love You Man' and just about DIED when Chris was nice enough to talk with him for about 15 minutes. Here is a picture of Chris/John's SuperFan.
Notice the 'peace sign' he's flashing us. I think the Japanese associate American's with this hand gesture because EVERYONE flashes it to us!! Too funny....
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