JAPAN: Japan kicks off Halloween celebrations two months ahead of schedule with a parade at Tokyo Disneyland

Record ID: 465535

  • Title: JAPAN: Japan kicks off Halloween celebrations two months ahead of schedule with a parade at Tokyo Disneyland
  • Date: 16th September 2006
  • Summary: (L!3) URAYASU, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (SEPTEMBER 12, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SPECTATORS GATHERING AT THE ENTRANCE EXTERIOR OF TOKYO DISNEYLAND WHICH WAS DECORATED WITH HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS PUMPKINS CROWDS ENTERING DISNEYLAND VARIOUS OF FLOATS AND COSTUMED DANCERS PARADING SPECTATOR MICKEY MOUSE DANCING ON A FLOAT SPECTATORS SCREAMING AND TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YUIKO WADA, 26-YEAR-OLD HOUSEWIFE, SAYING: "For adults like me, Halloween party is the only opportunity where I can truly dress up in fancy costumes." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) KAORU ABE, 23-YEAR-OLD COMPANY EMPLOYEE SAYING: "You can stand and scream. It's just fun." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MIKA FUJITA, 24-YEAR-OLD PART TIME WORKER SAYING: "Before my child was born, I was not interested in Halloween at all. But since I happened to know Halloween through this event, I have been fascinated by Halloween." MICKEY MOUSE STATUE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MAYUMI MAEHARA, SENIOR LEADING STAFF AT PUBLIC DIVISION OF ORIENTAL LAND ( OPERATING BODY OF TOKYO DISNEYLAND), SAYING: "Though Halloween had been an unfamiliar event for most Japanese, I think its popularity has spreading rapidly in recent years." MORE OF HALLOWEEN PARADE
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVABOS5OZ6AZMWC8KPAHBTE2IOSS
  • Story Text: Ready or not Halloween has arrived in Japan, nearly two months ahead of schedule.
    Halloween is a very recent addition to the Japanese calendar but that has not prevented the country from taking the Western fete to heart.
    About 70,000 Japanese flocked through the gates of Tokyo Disneyland on Tuesday (September 12) to find a perfect place to kick off the Halloween festivities -- 50 days before the traditional celebration day of October 31.
    On the Main Street of the Magical Kingdom in front of the Cinderella castle, over a hundred dancers and ten floats covered in various spooky cartoon themes cavalcaded past masses of screaming and squealing spectators.
    Tokyo Disneyland's thrice-a-day, seven-day-a-week parade is one of the nation's biggest and one of the world's earliest Halloween events. Even Disney World in Orlando, Florida U.S.A. only begins its festivities on September 15th.
    And Halloween in Japan is not limited to the fantasy world of Walt Disney.
    More and more Japanese have been introduced to the holiday thanks to the influence of the U.S. media, shopping streets are lined with pumpkins and bats and in recent years it has even become common place to find Japanese children costumed out on October 31st prowling neighbours for trick-or-treats.
    "Though Halloween had been an unfamiliar event for Japanese, I think its popularity is spreading rapidly in recent years," said Mayumi Maehara, a spokeswoman of Tokyo Disneyland, adding that Disney's event contributes a great deal to the growing popularity.
    "Before my child was born, I was not interested in Halloween at all. But since I happened to know Halloween through this event, I have been fascinated by Halloween," agreed 24-year-old Mika Fujita who has celebrated Halloween with her 4-year-old daughter Momoka for the past two years.
    The Japanese equivalent of Halloween, Obon, is a more sombre mid-summer excursion to the family tomb and usually more of a family affair with little like the pageantry of originally celtic festival to the dead.
    Judging from the excitement at Tokyo Disneyland on Tuesday, Halloween fever was quickly catching on.
    "For adults like me, Halloween party is the only opportunity where I can truly dress up in fancy costumes," said 26-year-old Yuiko Wada.
    "You can stand and scream. It's fun." added 23-year-old Kaoru Abe who joined the party for the first time.
    Originally a pagan harvest festival called Samhain by the Irish celebrated on the last day of October, it became Halloween after the Catholic church moved All Saints Day or All Hallows day to November 1st. in the eighth century A.D.. The day before All Saints Day thus became All Hallows' eve and eventually Halloween.
    But few Japanese, and presumably few westerners too, know of the pagan origins of Halloween and the similarity with the Japanese Obon.
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