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Some more scenes from the Kawasaki Halloween Parade 2009 today…
Actually, this second pic is not from the parade. Instead it shows how Halloween fever has taken hold of an ordinary Baskin-Robbins ice cream store. Everything goes Halloween in the store and the Japanese come in to buy more than normal.
The little, Japanese girl on the right, dressed as a witch, looked to be taking off when the wind caught her cape.
Ms. Krueger tried to take off my son’s face.
The “Up” movie float started the parade. There were two large nets of balloons coming off the top before the parade began. One they let go to kick off the parade. The other had to be pulled in tight so they could get by trees, etc.
These two, cute kids were doing some reverse trick-or-treating. They handed us candy and said “Happy Halloween” although it sounded more like ハッピーハロウィン. In any event, it brought a smile to my face.
What I eventually figured out, though, is that photos only come out well (with my camera anyway) pre- and post-parade when the subjects are still. During the parade video provides much better results.
For Halloween, my son and I took the train down to Kawasaki for probably the biggest Halloween event in Japan. I think I heard someone say 2009 was the 8th year they have been doing the Kawasaki Halloween Parade. Signs said that Kawasaki is Japan’s Halloween city. Kawasaki was smart to grab up this holiday as the Japanese seem to really be getting into Halloween.
I read somewhere that sales of Halloween goods were up between 20 and 40% this year in Japan. Somewhere else I read that items sitting on shelves quickly flew off the shelf once the packaging was changed to a Halloween theme.
The stores were packed and the crowds were large on Halloween in Kawasaki. The parade could probably be even bigger if they had the space. As it is now they limit the number of participants to 3,000 (3 groups of 1,000 with traffic let through in between the groups). Probably 20,000 – 30,000 spectators pour into Kawasaki, like us, to watch.
The above photo is of a small piece of the crowd. The main reason I took this picture is because of the sign in the upper right corner though. Mizonokuchi (溝口) is a place in Kawasaki that I lived back in late 1988 and early 1989. New Year’s Eve 1988 was the last time I was at the Kawasaki Station. Nearly 21 years later I came back for a different holiday. I’ve gone through Kawasaki on the train many times since, but this was my first time setting foot down in the place since the 80s.
I have loads of pictures and two more videos. You’ll get to see a few of the pictures and the other two videos if you check back over the next few days.
While most Japanese don’t really dress up for Halloween or go trick-or-treating like people do in the states, some dress up whenever they go to Harajuku. Today’s photos were not taken on Halloween or at Halloween parties. These pictures are of typical Harajuku wear (cosplay or costume play).
One morning, after a brief rain storm, the sky got partially blue so I went out to take some pictures. I stopped and sat at the nearby Tenso Jinja. No one was around so things were quite peaceful. I heard a bike come pedaling up. A little, old Japanese man was the rider of a bright red bike. He pulled up, parked his bike, walked in front of the shrine, bowed, rang the bell, clapped his hands, bowed again, and then jumped on his bike to head out again.
He saw me at this point and came on over. We chatted for a while about the weather, Tokyo being denied its bid to host the 2016 summer Olympics (which was announced earlier on the same morning), and Hawaii (where one of his children live). Then he hopped on his bike and away went the streak of red that had left a smile on my face.
While out for a walk along the Kanda River (神田川) we came upon some Tokyoites taking their pets for a walk.
Someone had a dog on a leash. Another had his pet tortoise walking behind him, no leash required.
The tortoise was almost as fast as the dog and seemed to know exactly which way to go.
The tortoise sported some fancy booties. I’m not sure if the booties were just for looks or if they protected the tortoise’s hind feet.
Another time I was out in the rain, without a camera, and watched pet owners walking their dogs. The dogs had on raincoats. They looked rather miserable–not because it was raining but because they had to wear raincoats. I think they wanted to enjoy the rain hitting them, but that wouldn’t have been fashionable in this town.