I’ve written posts before about the numerous unique flavors that Pepsi Japan has offered.
(Click here to see them.)
Starting on October 6th, for a limited time, Pepsi Japan will offer 「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost“) for Halloween.
「ペプシゴースト」 (“Pepsi Ghost”)
They will be sold in a bottles with various original monsters on the labels. And, most interestingly, the bottles say that they’re 「ミステリーフレーバー」 (“Mystery flavor”)!
Would you (will you) try these once they go on sale?
Kit-Kat Japan is famous for their numerous unique flavors.
(Click here to see a post I wrote about some of the many different flavors.)
Right now, Kit-Kat Japan is offering 「パンプキンプリン味」 (“Pumpkin Pudding Flavor”) Kit-Kits for Halloween.
In Japan, Baskin-Robbins is popular.
It has been popular in Japan for at least as long as I’ve lived in Japan (which is since 1990).
Halloween, though, wasn’t very well-known or popular in Japan when I first came here…but it has become increasingly popular over the years.
Japanese children don’t knock on their neighbors’ doors asking for “Trick ‘R Treat” candies like they do in America. But Halloween events at Tokyo Disneyland and other places are popular.
Also, in Japan nowadays, many famous brands, such as Kit-Kat, Starbucks, etc. offer special Halloween treats.
So of course, the aforementioned popular American ice-cream chain Baskin-Robbins has been offering a limited-time Halloween menu of treats every year.
When I first came to Japan, there was no Halloween here.
But it’s become more and more popular in Japan over the years.
It’s different from Halloween in America though. Japanese kids don’t knock on their neighbors doors to “trick ‘r treat” for candy.
There are Halloween parades and some shopping malls let kids “trick ‘r treat” from store to store.
One of the most popular Halloween event in Tokyo is Tokyo Disneyland’s Halloween theme.
It starts in September and goes til October 31st (Tokyo Disney’s X-mas theme starts right after).
Today we went to a shopping center and stopped for a coffee break at the McDonalds and I noticed the display at the 「サーティワン・アイスクリーム」 (Baskin-Robbins) next to the McDonalds.
The display was for Baskin-Robbins‘ Halloween campaign. So I took a photo of it:
We didn’t buy any of the Baskin-Robbins Halloween desserts.
But we do enjoy Baskin-Robbins ice cream once in a while.
Baskin-Robbins is an American ice cream franchise that is very popular in Japan.
In Japan, it’s not called “Baskin-Robbins” though. It’s called 「サーティワン・アイスクリーム」 (“Thirty-one Ice Cream“) or simply 「サーティワン」 (“Thirty-one“).
I haven’t been to a Baskin-Robbins in America in many years. I guess it’s been about twenty-five years since I’ve seen an American Baskin-Robbins.
But I was thinking that if Baskin-Robbins in America has Halloween themed desserts they’re probably quite different from the ones that Baskin-Robbins sells here in Japan.
So I checked their websites and sure enough Baskin-Robbins U.S. Halloween treats are completely different from Baskin-Robbins Japan‘s.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been in Japan so long…but I think that food in Japan (including junk-food) is much better than the food in America.
The last time we visited America (in 2004), my family and I all enjoyed our holiday there…but we missed the food in Japan!
Compare for yourself Baskin-Robbins Japan and Baskin-Robbins U.S. Halloween desserts and tell if you don’t agree that the Japanese ones look much more appetizing.
The ad for Baskin-Robbins Japan:
"Baskin-Robbins Japan" Halloween sweets
And here’s the ad for Baskin-Robbins U.S.:
"Baskin-Robbins U.S. Halloween cakes
It’s now 十月 (October), and ハロウィーン (Halloween) is at the end of this month.
Do you celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween)? What do you do?
When I was a kid in America, I used to enjoy doing what most American kids do at ハロウィーン (Halloween)…dressing up in a costume and walking around the neighborhood knocking on people’s doors to get candy.
Of course I’ve long outgrown any interest in ハロウィーン (Halloween) for myself…but I have three kids and once they were old enough, I wanted to take them Trick ‘R Treating. But knocking on your neighbors’ doors and asking to be given candy (or anything else, for that matter) is not something people in Japan would feel comfortable doing.
In fact, when my kids were little there was no ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan at all to speak of. So, a couple times, my wife made ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes for our kids by hand and we invited some of their friends over for a “Halloween Party” at our house. We painted rabbit or mouse faces on the kids and gave them candy and played some games with them.
That was back when they were in 保育園 (Nursery School). But we still buy some candy and small bags now and let our kids give some ハロウィーン (Halloween) presents to their friends.
The only difference now is that many stores in Japan sells ハロウィーン (Halloween) merchandise and candy and costumes! So we can buy ハロウィーン (Halloween) candy and ハロウィーン (Halloween) bags with pictures of “Jack ‘O Lanterns” and black cats.
ハロウィーン (Halloween) is still pretty new to Japan though, so many people see the ハロウィーン (Halloween) stuff being sold in the stores and think it looks fun and interesting…but relatively few people actually purchase any of it because they wouldn’t have any use for a ハロウィーン (Halloween) costume (even if they have kids) or imported American candy (which is usually too sweet for Japanese tastes).
But some people do buy the ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and ハロウィーン (Halloween) costumes because there’s beginning to be more and more to do to celebrate ハロウィーン (Halloween) in Japan (even if the average Japanese person isn’t 100% sure exactly what date in October the holiday falls on…or how the holiday is celebrated in other countries).
Here are a couple pictures of ハロウィーン (Halloween) pumpkins, candy, and other goods that a store was recently selling. I didn’t have my camera with me…so I took these two photos with the camera on my 携帯電話 (cell-phone):
So, if you’re in the Tokyo area at ハロウィーン (Halloween) time and you want to celebrate it “Japanese style, here are some of the places you can go:
The Tokyo Disneyland Halloween 2008 website page is here.
Their website’s in 日本語 (Japanese only) here.
…on the last Saturday in October.
Their website is here.
When my daughters were under 12, we went to this event. A couple pictures that I took of people in the Halloween parade can be seen on this post.
The Kawasaki Halloween 2008 website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.
Their website is here.
I just finished my Festivals In Tokyo page.
You can click the link at the top of this page…or click here to see it.
Tokyo Five 
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