I saw the Meiji train

It’s not such a big deal but I rode the 「山の手線」 (Yamanote Train Line) yesterday and I finally saw a Yamanote Line train that was painted brown and decorated with Meiji Chocolate ads to commemorate the 100th anniversary of both the Yamanote Line and Meiji Chocolate.

I wrote a post about these special trains when they debuted (click here to see it).

I was glad that I was finally able to see one of these trains because they will only run until next Friday (2009 December 4)!
Unfortunately though, I didn’t have my camera with me…so I was only able to take a photo of it with my cell-phone.

Here’s the photo I took:

ハロウィーン

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:

• Tokyo Disneyland…from mid-September until October 31, Disneyland has special ハロウィーン (Halloween) decorations and events (for example, if kids see any staff dressed as a witch, then can say “Trick ‘R Treat” and get a treat. There’s also face painting available).You can enter the park during ハロウィーン (Halloween) time wearing a costume…provided that it’s a Disney themed costume.

  The Tokyo Disneyland Halloween 2008 website page is here.

• ハローハロイィーンパンプキンパレード (Hello Halloween Pumpkin Parade) in 表参道 (Omotesandou, Tokyo)…on the last Sunday of October at 11:00AM-6:00PM.Their website is here (日本語 (Japanese only)).
• ハロウィーン in 多摩センター (Halloween In Tama Center) in Western Tokyo on the last weekend in October.Events include Trick ‘R Treating, Jack ‘O Lanterns, etc.

  Their website’s in 日本語 (Japanese only) here.

• Roppongi Hills Happy Halloween Parade

…on the last Saturday in October.

Their website is here.

• Kawasaki Halloween…on the last weekend in October in 川崎 (Kawasaki (south of Tokyo)).They have a Halloween parade and kids 12 and under can go to stores in the shopping center that have the Halloween poster in their window and say “Trick ‘R Treat” to get candy. The kids don’t necessarily need to be in costume.

  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.

• 元町ハロウィーン (Motomachi Halloween)…in 横浜 (Yokohama) on October 31.Their website (in 日本語 (Japanese only)) is here.
• Tokyo American Club Halloween Monster Mash…on the last Saturday in October.The Tokyo American Club is a very exclusive club with membership by invitation only (plus their membership fees are extremely steep). But if you’re a member, they have a Halloween event (but you’d probably already know about it). I don’t have a membership…so I’ve never been.

  Their website is here.

• 山手線ハロウィーン・トレイン (Yamanote Line Halloween Train)…late October on the Yamanote Train Line in Tokyo.This is an unauthorized (and unapproved) event started by foreigners in Tokyo. Every year, some (adult) foreigners meet at a designated time and train station wearing Halloween costumes. I haven’t ever participated in this (I haven’t worn a Halloween costume since I was a child)…but I’ve heard that the police and train attendants try to stop it every year because the participants usually drink alcohol and act rowdy on the normally quiet Tokyo trains.

浅草

Yesterday we went to 浅草 (Asakusa).

This is probably the most famous 下町 (Shitamachi) area of Tokyo. (下町 (Shitamachi) is “Downtown” and 山の手 (Yamanote) is “Uptown“. Read this post about a less-touristy Shitamachi area we like…and a brief explanation of the term.)

浅草 (Asakusa) is an area popular with foreign visitors. All Tokyo guidebooks recommend a visit. Yesterday we saw and heard many people there speaking 中国語 (Chinese), 韓国語 (Korean), フランス語 (French), 英語 (English), etc.

The most popular place for visitors to go in 浅草 (Asakusa) is 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple). (Looking at the 漢字 (kanji characters) for the temple’s name, it might appear that it’s name is “Asakusa-tera Temple”. It’s not, though…but there is a shrine nearby called 浅草神社 (Asakusa Shrine). Anyways.)

Here’s a picture of the gate at the entrance to 浅草寺 (Sensou-ji Temple) grounds:

This gate is called 雷門 (Lightning Gate), and that’s what the paper lantern at the gate says. The lantern is flanked by 風神 (The God of Wind) and 雷神 (The God of Lightning).

So, here are five short videos of the area that I uploaded to YouTube:

浅草 (Asakusa) is more lively during one of the numerous festivals that are held in the area. I go to most of the festivals in this area (and other parts of Tokyo, too)…Click here to read a post and see videos of one of the recent festivals I went to in 浅草 (Asakusa)).