Photo by melissakartini
One of the most interesting aspects of Japanese culture that you’d immediately pick up upon arriving is their love to dress up. It is rare to see a Japanese person who is not dressed to the nines, even if it’s for something as simple as a trip to the grocery store. What is more interesting to note is that this love for dressing up extends to cosplay.
Yes, yes, I know all about anime cosplay and anime cons, but it didn’t occur to me that they just love to dress up in general. Imagine my surprise when I went to Tokyo Disneyland and saw hundreds of Japanese people in costumes. Apparently, not even costumes that they had bought at Tokyo Disneyland, but had made on their own.
There were so many beautiful, Hollywood-worthy handmade costumes and makeup that my partner and I were in awe. Why so much effort for a day trip? It wasn’t even a celebration!
Needless to say, this particular culture isn’t all that familiar in my country. Try pulling something like this in Malaysia, and you’d earn more than a couple of “What is that weirdo doing?” stares. Certainly, anime cosplay has been gaining a bit more traction in KL over recent years, but it is still not the norm.
So you can imagine that like a moth drawn to a flame, I attended the annual Halloween bash at Shibuya last week. It was on a weekday night, but who knows how much longer I’ll be in Japan?
Photo by melissakartini
As with most events in Tokyo, the first thing that hit me was the massive sea of people filtering through the streets. There were people in every possible corner of Shibuya, especially at the heart of it, the highly photographed Shibuya Crossing. I mean, Shibuya is always busy, but it was even more so on Halloween night, if that was even possible.
For a picture as to how busy it was, what would have taken me 2 minutes to walk to, it took me a grand 20 minutes to do that night.
It was crazy, but well worth it. In return for my patience, I was treated with the sight of almost half the crowd in costumes.
I noted that there were lots of Jokers that night (it seemed to be the most popular Halloween costume), but aside from the lone Joker in the header of this post, I was unfortunately unable to take any proper snapshots of them. Even though Japanese people are more open to having their photos taken on Halloween, I still felt like it was too intrusive to ask.
Photos by melissakartini
I did get shots of an adorable Danbo, though!
The moment the crowd caught sight of it from across the road, they got super excited. Lots of picture-taking ensued, all of which the Danbo entertained patiently.
Here’s the thing about Halloween in Japan: it seems to be one of the few times that it is okay to approach people for photos.
Photo by Ekkawut
Otherwise, they would usually shy away, trained from a young age to value privacy, both their own and others’. In essence, Halloween in Japan is like a big photo-taking event, where everyone goes all-out dressing up and then has fun taking pictures for Instagram till the early hours of the morning.
I guess this is true even more so this year due to the drinking ban that had been imposed on this celebration.
Photo by melissakartini
Not that this dampened the crowd by much (I was told the party went on till afternoon the next day!). The crowds were so massive that there were policemen everywhere that night. Honestly, I have never seen that many policemen in one place till then.
They were all stern, taking their task of controlling the crowds and ensuring our safety very seriously.
It was a good call, but impressively enough, despite the number of people, Shibuya was still relatively safe that night. That says a lot about the safety level in Japan.
Photos by Ekkawut
Not once did I feel threatened while making my way through the throng of people there. They were honestly just there to have a fun time taking pictures for the gram. Which is a slight contrast to how Halloween works in America, its place of origin.
In Japan, it’s just an excuse to get into costume. There are no pumpkins, spooky home decor, house parties or even door-to-door trick-or-treating. If there is any trick-or-treating, it is in a controlled environment, with people signing up and willing to give candy to children. Simply visiting a stranger’s house to trick-or-treat is simply unheard of, a big no-no.
I guess that is about as far as they’re willing to take Halloween, haha.
That said, I do like this version of Halloween. I had a lot of fun.
Photo by Ekkawut
It was a pleasure to see how, through their love for costumes, the Japanese adapted Halloween into their culture. I didn’t think so at first, but after a while, I realised that it is the perfect holiday to fit into Japanese culture.
Now, I highly doubt that I’ll get dressed up for Halloween next year, but should I get the chance to, I’ll definitely attend it again.
Photo by melissakartini
After all, I’m not ready to say goodbye to Japan just yet.
