I remember when I was kid and going out trick-or-treating, trying to compete with my brothers to see who could get the most pillow case full of candy in one night. Some years we'd have a good haul and have to drop a full pillow case back home to grab an empty one, and other times my mom would drive us in the van with the side-door open so we wouldn't need to walk from house to house. Those were the good days. I wasn't so much into Halloween for the costumes or spookiness of the occasion. At that age, it was aaall about the candy. I remember one time when I was 12 and didn't have a costume so I cut two wholes out of a bed sheet and voila! Instant ghost costume. It kept slipping and wasn't very easy to wear, so taking my laziness to new heights I took off the bed sheet, bundled it in my arms and said "I'm a ghost but it won't stay on," when I was asked what I was, which was still good enough to receive the candy! I had fooled the system.

Nowadays, I can't quite go out trick-or-treating anymore but since being in Japan where Halloween is still a novelty, I can bring trick-or-treating and Halloween to Japanese children. Last year I was a mummy, but this year I decided to go with something a little different - a green Care Bear costume (which will double as a snowboarding outfit in the Winter ;). I've worn it a few times driving around in my car after I'd bought it, at the bar in Obihiro, and to teach some Halloween lessons at my schools. I also wore it yesterday for the Tokoro Kid's Halloween Party.

This year we had a small group of 20 kindergarten and elementary kids attend. For some of them, it was the first time they'd ever experienced anything as strange as Halloween. They came dressed up in their costumes, some looking like they were unsure what everything was about (like a little boy in a suit jacket and knee-socks), but was balanced out by all the other little witches, frogs, fairies, and the grim reaper with his inflatable scythe. There were events such as Halloween Twister, Halloween Bingo, a Halloween relay and... Halloween donuts-on-a-string (to substitute for Bobbin' for Apples). If the sugary donuts weren't enough to get the kids into hyper-mode, the night was topped off with a ghost pinata full of candy that they had to bust open with a baseball bat. I'm just glad we didn't have to deal with the kids after that.

After spending a few weeks teaching about Halloween, showing pictures of Halloween costumes from back home, and doing endless Halloween activities, the exposure has made me start to really enjoy this holiday. Back in Canada, I'd become indifferent to it after wearing costumes for Halloween since I learned to walk. But being in Japan and seeing it again through the eyes of an adult has shown me that it's not so much about the candy, but about dressing up and just having fun. Now I think it's fun to dress up for Halloween, and fun seeing the little kids enjoying themselves, and even funner running around in a green Care Bear costume handing out candy to random Japanese strangers on the streets! Ah, who knows, maybe I am still a kid.