Trick or Treat Tokyo

Nozomi rocking her Tiger Costume.

I'm still giddy with excitement from the fabulous night we had.  Tonight was Nozomi's first time trick or treating.

Halloween in Japan continues to grow in popularity each year.  In every train car this Halloween night you could see young men and women dressed up in costume. People love to dress up here and they love holidays. The Hyaku Yen (Dollar Store) has a bigger Halloween display each year and our okashi shop (candy/snack store) had big bags of candy for sale.  Many people make a special trip to Tokyo Disney for Disney Halloween and Halloween parties and parades are can be found in many different regions.

Trick or treating is spreading to more neighborhoods.  We chose to go to the Hiroo neighborhood. There are many foreigners that live there in very nice houses and apartments.  It was also well organized with a circulated list of participants.  Each house put out a pumpkin to show that you could trick or treat there, but most people just stood outside their gate or in the entryway and handed out candy.  Apartments pooled their candy together and there were huge bins of candy!

There were so many kids! They were dressed as Anna, Elsa, Batman, witches, pumpkins, and princess and on and on.  It would had been impossible to ring doorbells.  I couldn't believe how many people came out.  Most of the adults were in costume, too.  I thought it would just be foreigners, but there were many Japanese kids and their parents.  I heard French, Australian, Japanese, American accents and more!!

Oh, and Nozomi totally rocked her first real Halloween.  She fussed a little bit in her costume and was timid at the first house, but once she realized she was surrounded by other kids and got candy, she put her game face on.  She patiently waited outside each house, carefully selected her candy, said "thank you" and bowed.  I've never seen her take something so serious or behave so well.  I was so proud and overjoyed.  Tonight I feel truly blessed to live in a safe city, to have a supporting community, and to have such a wonderful little family.

Kids lining up outside a complex waiting for candy.
We had perfect weather.

Nozomi patiently waits for her turn to pick out a candy.
She takes Trick or Treating very serious.

Trick or Treating on the streets of Tokyo.

Nozomi's goodies.  The perfect amount for a slow toddler.
Other kids had much more, and we ate some on the train.

Kaimono o shimashou ka! (Let's do shopping!)

I just had to share this picture.  I often had this look on my face when we first moved here.  What dose this box say?  What is this?  How do I make it?  After 3 years in Japan, we can navigate the grocery store very well.  We actually shop at 3-4 different stores.  All stores have the basics, but some shops are less expensive or carry special import items.  We go to the store every day.  This is common in Japan because people buy fresh ingredients.  We also have a very small fridge. (Remember your college dorm? It's about twice the size of that).

We're getting very excited for many upcoming activities.  Last week we celebrated Nozomi's 2nd Birthday with a few of her friends from playgroup.  They really enjoyed carving a pumpkin.  For my birthday I went out to karaoke.  Next week we will go hiking for Erik's birthday.

Our special English Christmas choir has been practicing.  The flyers for our Thanksgiving turkey dinner have gone out.  And Erik and I keep looking at our living room thinking about how we will arrange our furniture for our annual Christmas Party.

The air is full of excitement as we prepare for the birth of our Lord.