Halloween takes on a rather morphed representation here in Japan. It seems to be generally restricted to kindergarten parties and early 20’s costume clubbing. Aside from completely missing the elementary school-aged demographic, Japan’s patisseries often sell a variety of halloween themed cakes for the enjoyment of the random Halloween loving customer. Candy and chocolate isn’t sold in the kind of bulk packaging commonly found in American supermarkets, and since trick or treating is pretty much non-existant, the event basically becomes a nationwide Harajuku cosplay for the college kids.

That might be overstating it a bit. I only saw a few twenty somethings dressed as anime characters in the Sapporo underground shopping area on Halloween weekend. So, to put it simply, Halloween is barely a blip on the Japanese social calendar.

But that doesn’t stop Halloween from creeping its way into shops, ateliers and and the ubiquitous Starbucks. This year I saw orange and black themed nick nacks for sale as early as mid September. Kind of ridiculous.

For me and my wife, Halloween consists of buying a slightly overpriced orange pumpkin at a michi no eki, gutting it, roasting the seeds, and carving a very non-traditional Jack-O-Lantern (usually dog themed). This year we upped the ante with homemade pumpkin spiced scones with maple syrup icing. Well, homemade from mix!