Eat, Drink, and be Scary!

Today I went to a Halloween pumpkin carving party at a friends house. While most of the guests at the party used images from a carving book to design their pumpkins, I went a different route. As I carved, people kept asking me 'Is that Mickey Mouse?!' and I'd simply say 'No, it's a bear.' Little did they know, this bear is a huge hit in Japan, and my favorite bear EVER.

Rilakkuma (リラックマ) or 'Relax Bear'

Apple crisp...Halloween style!

The English Club members at Hitachi Second High School and I usually celebrate the holidays by cooking. This Halloween was no different. We gathered in the school kitchen after school today (since Halloween is on Sunday) for our celebration. I wore my Rilakkuma costume and students wore various Halloween headbands. We made apple crisp, quesadillas, guacamole, and pumpkin pie (made by the mother of one of the students)! The food was great! And a few students decided to decorate the apple crisp with gummy bats when it came out of the oven. Not a bad idea!

The result:

Forget Trick-or-Treating, I'd Rather be at Baskin Robbins . . .

Most of the people I talk to here tell me that Japanese people don't celebrate Halloween-no costumes, haunted houses, or trick-or-treating.  However, my experience today made me think otherwise.  One of my students invited me to go to Baskin Robbins with her (commonly referred to as  "31" in Japan) to get the Halloween special. 

I knew I was in for a treat when I walked into Baskin Robbins and felt like I was in an American Halloween store.  The workers wore pumpkin hats and the entire store was decked out in Halloween stuff.  Banners with ghosts and pumpkins on them hung from the ceiling and there was even a stuffed pumpkin dressed like a witch near the entrance (hmm).  And of course there were special Halloween ice cream flavors.  I forget the names of the flavors I chose, but one had POP ROCKS  in it and one was filled with mini peanut butter cups. 

After I paid for my ice cream (590 yen...a little expensive but so worth it), the lady at the cash register held out a plastic pumpkin and told me to pull out two scratch tickets.  Halloween prizes at Baskin Robbins?  Score!  I didn't win anything, but my friend won a Halloween glow bracelet.  Then we ate our ice creams-I've never felt so bad about eating something in my life.  I was destroying a work of art.  The pumpkin stem was an almond, the pumpkin was a small orange cake that had been carved out, the eyes were small chocolate triangles glued to the pumpkin with whipped cream.  On one side, a little white chocolate ghost stood next to a pile of whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and nuts.  The pumpkin was filled with the pop rocks ice cream and the scoop of peanut butter ice cream hid underneath it, like a stand for the display. 

The excitement didn't end there.  My friend ordered a few Hallowen specials to go.  As I savored the last few bites of my treat, I watched the lady prepare the order.  When she was finished, she carefully placed the sundaes in a paper bag along with a few pieces of dry ice and then sealed the bag quickly.  How cool is that?!  The whole experience was very amusing.  I guess Japan does celebrate Halloween, you just have to know where to look.