Halloween in Japan

I know I'm very late b/c Halloween was 2 months ago.. ive been busy! LOL..

Halloween in Japan is pretty much non-existent. There are a few decorations here and there, but for the most part no one really knows what it is.

There is this amazing bakery close to my house and it was decorated so nicely for Halloween!

Even all the workers were dressed up in costume!

They also had some amazing ice cream parfaits! YUM!

Halloween at School

I encouraged my students at Nishimeya J.H.School to dress up for Halloween, since they don’t usually do that.

We played some Halloween activities that I came up with. The each student had to pick up a piece of paper that either said "trick" or "treat". If they picked treat, they would get a treat. But, if they picked TRICK - they would have to do the action on the paper in order to get their treat.

This is a video of a student that picked trick - he had to "act like a bat"

One card said sing, "head, shoulder, knees and toes"

- they must have been so embarrassed doing this at 14 years old.. LOL!

I made some Halloween loot bags for the teachers and people from my work...this was my way of spreading some Halloween cheer. I dont think ive ever spent this much on Halloween before.

I even asked the vice principal to dress up too. He wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, but the next day he came with a home made sushi costume!! I was so happy that he participated. =)

V.P. dressed up as "ikura" - salmon fish egg sushi

I was dressed up as a Japanese comedian. “catto champeh” is what he says. (whatever that means??) I just thought it looked super funny! LOL!

Jet Party

At night, I celebrated Halloween with the JET teachers on the other side of the prefecture – Hachinohe city (2 hr drive away)… we were late and missed the all you can drink..

Wolverine, Cyclops and the Hulk

its meeee mario!... lol

The other costumes by the peoples were nice. So it still felt a bit like a Halloween party from back home. My costume was the girl from STREET FIGHTER – CHUN LI!

The JET party ended really early. And we were lucky to stumble upon a ‘reggae’ party that some of us went to in our costumes. We were the only ones dressed up in that Japanese party, I guess it was pretty obvious we were the foreigners. It was jokes b/c the dj kept sayin “Big UP Chun Li!!” LOL!

My 1st School Festival

My base school, Nishimeya Junior High School invited me to their school festival. Nishimeya is a rural town outside of Hirosaki. It takes me 1 hour on the bus to get there, but only maybe 30 mins to get there by car. its a real scenic route surrounded by mountains and trees. On one of my visits there, i saw a small black snake on the road! ..that was def a first.

There are only 44 students in the whole school!! Really small huh!!d (or should I say ehhh!) That’s like 2 classes, give or take.

The festival was similar to an all day talent show or presentation. The grades presented speeches, mini plays, songs and dances.

The dances were really funny. For some reason all the boys dressed up like girls?? I guess it was okay over there but something like that would mos DEFinitly NOT fly over here!!! LOL

Displays of the students' crafty work

Customized School T-Shirts.. pretty cool

CULTURE DAY 2009!

JET Program organized this super amazing culture day. It was a great way to appreciate participate and learn about some aspects of Japanese culture. There were many seminars available that introduced us to various activities. I chose Japanese cooking, Taiko drumming and the martial art - Aikido.

Aikido stands for "the harmonizing energy path" - it is not to resist the law of nature, but to harmonize without using physical strength. It is a defensive form of martial art which teaches the students to use their enemies own force against them. and it reminds me of all the movements my dad used to use on me when i was a kid - b/c i used to attack him lol..

The sensei’s in this workshop were inspiring and it was amazing to see the 80 year old sensei in such great shape. He reminded me of Mr. Miyagi! HAHAHA…

Taiko Drumming

Taiko is a traditional form of Japanese drumming. It is prevalent in many Japanese festivals. It is said that the drum can be heard until the end of the village. The drums were also used in warfare, to make big sounds to scare the enemy.

Ive seen the big drums at the nebuta festival when I first got here. Those drums are very LOUD!

Our teacher was very serious as he was drumming. He was very precise in movements and how he hit the drum. It looked easy but it was much harder than what it seemed. I think I was too focused on getting the correct form down. It definitely takes a lot of practice!

TAIKO.. fun stuff!

Japanese Cooking

As well all know, I cant cook! Lol.. but in this class we made onigiri - “rice ball”. We shaped the rice in a ball,

placed an edible item in the middle and wrapped it in seaweed. It was yummy.

Okonomiyaki (top right)

We also made okonomiyake? I don’t know how to describe it, but there is shredded fish somethings on top and they dance after they are placed on top. It is similar to an omelet? With seafood type of filling?

INAKADATE rice fields

These rice fields are located in Inakadate, which is close to my area. I also teach at Inakadate Elementary school and Jr. High School. The farmers create the huge displays with no use of ink or dye. Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields. As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.


A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants, the colours created by using different varieties, in Inakadate in Japan. The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate , 600 miles north of Toyko, where the tradition began in 1993.


The village has now earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry and this year the enormous pictures of Napoleon and a Sengoku-period warrior, both on horseback, are visible in a pair of fields adjacent to the town hall.



More than 150,000 visitors came to Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, every summer to see the extraordinary murals. Each year hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in late May.



this is the observation deck.




Another famous rice paddy art venue is in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture. This year's design shows the fictional 16th-century samurai warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen, whose lives feature in television series Tenchijin.

kids and bugs.. i dont get it!!?

so japanese kids have a fetish for something i am terrified of...insects! They collect them and pick them up with their fingers.. they're fearless..


I was petrified while standing in the field where they grab them..

but the kids asked me to catch insects with them, and i just couldnt say no!

MY "ENKAI!" aka customary WELCOME PARTY!

The 'enkai' is a workplace drinking party... it is a very important Japanese custom to have this celebration to get to know your co-workers better in a social/relaxed situation.. this was the welcome party my office threw for me.. they even made me a kick-ass flyer!

my name in 'katakana'




it felt like a structured affair, where I had to sit at the head of the table beside my big boss -who i never speak to at work b/c his office is separate from ours, but all my co-workers are extremely friendly and welcoming! theyre also a bunch of jokers who crack jokes at the office all the time... its great!

the 'big boss'

my buddy Ojin-sensei! funny guy!

my girlies from work! theyre super 'kawai!' i love them!