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| 明日はハロウィンですね。 / Tomorrow is Halloween. | 
日本での最初のハロウィン仮装は、1937年、第34代内閣総理大臣近衛文麿の「永田町の近衛邸での仮装パーティ」でハロウィンを模した集会で行われた。Wikipedia ハロウィンより
This year, I bought all my Halloween decorations at TEMU.
Apparently, it's common to start decorating your room a month before Halloween.
Traditionally, Halloween decorations are supposed to be up by October 15th.
It seems to have originated as a festival praying for harvests and bountiful crops, but for some reason, I mistakenly thought it was held on the winter solstice.
While preparing for Halloween this year, I realized that since it's October now, it's clearly unrelated to the winter solstice.
Looking up Halloween on Wikipedia, I somehow felt it might be a remnant of various ancient festivals from around the world, predating the emergence of Christianity.
Since I'd have to research it endlessly, I chose to do things like changing my wardrobe instead today. For Japanese people, the concept of “spirits” beyond ancestral souls isn't familiar, and I suspect Japan probably never had beings called spirits.
I like Halloween's easygoing, slightly chuckle-worthy, heartwarming style, so
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| Halloween cake in Braga, Portugal : Joseolgon | 
I'm also interested in learning the authentic way to celebrate, and I'm delighted by the perspective of recent visitors from overseas who find “Japanese Halloween interesting.”
Halloween in Japan:
The first Halloween costume event in Japan occurred in 1937 at a gathering modeled after Halloween, held at the Konoe residence in Nagatacho during a costume party hosted by the 34th Prime Minister, Fumimaro Konoe.
From Wikipedia's Halloween page
https://w.wiki/3So3
So, as Wikipedia states, when wonderful young people started Halloween in Tokyo, right at its heart, in recent years, perhaps they knew this history?
Looking at the Halloween page on Wiki,
Halloween around the world these days has a bit of a spicy joke element to it. Since people dress up as fairies, ghosts, villains, and other beings considered undesirable or not quite orthodox on Halloween, asking the heads of various Christian denominations for their official opinion on this seems a bit mean-spirited.
It's easy to imagine that even those holding such strict official views would squint fondly at the little ghosts when children in costume visit their homes, safely saying “Trick or treat!” on this day, considering it private time.
I've seen it happen before: a whole town's fun, heartwarming event ruined by a crowd of weirdos who come stumbling in all hyped up, just to yell loudly, cause chaos, and break things.
In fact, in the town where I live, a beloved summer event that everyone enjoyed was once ruined forever. People trampled the plantings, climbed and broke street trees, turning a time meant for peaceful, cheerful enjoyment into utter chaos.
In summer, each town puts its own spin on things, quietly enjoying “another year” together. Yet, on that very day—which was actually a special occasion when townspeople dressed up nicely—suddenly, people would appear acting violently, shouting aggressively at quiet shop fronts (something they'd never do otherwise) and mocking the shopkeepers' responses. I've had to restore the shop's atmosphere myself, leaving the shopkeeper visibly relieved.
Where do these people come from? I've wondered for decades why they come to ruin things, knowing full well everyone else is enjoying themselves safely and within reason.
One person mentioned how a wonderful Halloween event, created by enthusiastic young people enjoying themselves on a shoestring budget, was ruined. They said, “If I'd known where those guys came from, I'd never have come back.”
As of 2025, what I understand is that feeling.
It's different from just getting excited and having fun.
If you see at least three people in that state of excitement, shouting unreasonably loud to intimidate those around them, quietly leave the area.
If there's no audience, they won't make a scene.
Don't even glance at them.
I'm not entirely sure why, but they mistake that attention for approval, get cocky, and get even more excited and rowdy.
Create an atmosphere.
Suppressing them with an atmosphere of gentle, lively, healthy camaraderie—one that asserts the presence of absolute intelligence—is another way to deflate those idiots.
Getting excited and shouting to intimidate others is completely different from rampaging, thinking it's okay to be violent toward people or destroy things just for that day.
We all know this, so when we're having a lively, cheerful, and heartwarming good time, if those guys crash the party just to get attention, let's swiftly sidestep them and ignore their beastly, vain egos.
That's all for now. Tomorrow is Halloween, after all.
20251031 09:02 revised the text.
 


 

