It’s Halloween season and in Japan, it is popular among young people to celebrate Halloween. However, the way they celebrate may be completely different than in the countries where Halloween originates. If you are a foreigner living in Japan, I’m sure you have been confused about it.
There are many theories about how Halloween became popular in Japan. In the late 1990s, Tokyo Disneyland started to hold an annual Halloween event, which allows people to come to the park in full costume as Disney characters only during that event. Candy and general merchandise manufacturers have also begun to release Halloween-themed products every year, which has made Halloween into a major commercial event.
Halloween has a strong image among Japanese youth as a festival where people dress up and have fun. There was a time when thousands of young people dressed in costumes gathered in Shibuya, they drank alcohol and made a lot of noise which became a social problem. Recently, measures such as banning the sale of alcohol on the day of Halloween and increasing security have been taken, and it is becoming a more peaceful event now. Even kindergartens sometimes hold costume events on Halloween, and rather than ghosts and Dracula, most kids dress up as cute Japanese cartoon characters, and they all look adorable!
What are you going to dress up as for Halloween this year?