Would you ever wish someone a “lovely Halloween”? I kept seeing this phrase pop up in Halloween goods this year along with the more standard “Happy Halloween.” I think “lovely Halloween” may go the way of “heartful” (ハートフル), which is wasei Eigo (Japanese-created “English”) used to mean heart-warming, warm-hearted, or caring.*
Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’
Lovely Halloween
Posted in Consumer Culture, Halloween, Kanazawa, tagged ラブリーハロウィーン, gifts, Halloween, Halloween in Japan, Lovely Halloween, Pocky, romance, shopping, Valentine's Day on 2012/11/05 | 5 Comments »
Halloween Reader
Posted in Halloween, Media, tagged Britain, costumes, film, free, Halloween, Halloween in Japan, history, horror, horror stories, links, podcast, Podcastle, Pseudopod, scary stories, trick or treat on 2012/10/31 | Leave a Comment »
Happy Halloween, everyone! Here are a variety of links from across the web to get you in the holiday spirit!
Halloween in Japan: Decorations
Posted in Consumer Culture, Expat Living, Halloween, Visual Culture, tagged decorating, decoration, Halloween, Halloween in Japan, japan, Kanazawa, pumpkin on 2012/10/31 | Leave a Comment »
What have we learned about Halloween in Japan this year?
Kanazawa Forus
Although Halloween seems to be mainly marketed through food in the broader consumer world, Halloween decorations in retailers and for home use seem to be growing in popularity and availability.
Halloween Taste-Testing: Mister Donut and Doughnut Plant
Posted in Consumer Culture, Halloween, Visual Culture, tagged donuts, Doughnut Plant, doughnuts, food, food culture, Halloween, japan, Mister Donut on 2012/10/19 | Leave a Comment »
So far, all my Halloween stuff has been food this year. I’m planning a non-food post exclusive to The Lobster Dance soon, and I’d like to add your photos to it! If you have any interesting Halloween-in-Japan photos, particularly pictures of consumer goods and decorations, please comment or contact me at odorunara[at]gmail[dot]com.
On to the post:
I distinctly remember saying last year that I wished that Mister Donut would get a pumpkin-flavored doughnut, and this year, my wish came true!
Halloween Taste-Testing: Pumpkin Pudding Kit Kats
Posted in Consumer Culture, Expat Living, Gender, Halloween, tagged candy, costumes, food, Gender, Halloween, Kit Kats, pumpkin on 2012/10/10 | 1 Comment »
Last year, Kit Kat introduced special pumpkin cheesecake flavor for Halloween. Although I liked it quite a bit, I was a little confused as to why the package described pumpkin cheesecake as a “traditional Halloween food.” This year, Kit Kat opted for a new limited-time Halloween flavor, Pumpkin Pudding (パンプキンプリン).
Let’s compare:
2011:
2012:
Halloween Taste-Testing: Starbucks Japan Autumn Menu 2012
Posted in Consumer Culture, Cooking, Expat Living, Halloween, tagged coffee, food, Halloween, muffin, Starbucks on 2012/10/01 | Leave a Comment »
Starbucks Crunchy Caramel Latte and Pumpkin Muffin
One thing I love about living in Japan is trying the seasonal sweets and drinks in cafes, conbini, and grocery stores. "Seasonal food" is partially the function of the availability of the harvest, such as a café's changing the menu from summer blueberry cake to fall fig tarts for desserts; however, part of "seasonal food" is more related to cultural perceptions of seasons and their associated foods: Pepsi's Salty Watermelon soda and Pocky's and other company's…
I'll be covering food-related Halloween posts over on I'll Make It Myself! this season and reblogging here. Enjoy!
Documenting Halloween 2012: An Imported Holiday (1)
Posted in Consumer Culture, Culture, Expat Living, Visual Culture, tagged Christmas, Halloween, Halloween in Japan, imported holidays, multicultural on 2012/09/25 | 4 Comments »
Halloween seems to be the new imported-holiday darling of the ’10s. As I wrote last year, businesses’ creating and selling Halloween-themed goods and services has exploded in the last 5 years, and yet, this isn’t the Halloween I celebrated as a child.
The most popular image from my coverage of Halloween 2011.
A comparison to Japanese Christmas may be helpful in understanding how imported holidays function. (more…)
Documenting Halloween in Japan (8)
Posted in Consumer Culture, Culture, Expat Living, Halloween, tagged candy, Halloween, japan, marketing on 2011/11/04 | 4 Comments »
Part 8: Wrap-up
The Halloween items are off the shelves in the stores in Kanazawa and the advertisements to pre-order Christmas cakes and osechi New Year’s meals are gaining ground on the displays of local stores. I’m a bit sad to see Halloween go, though I’m sure my friends who still have Halloween lessons to teach and Halloween events from which to recover are ready to move on. I went to a costume party at a bar over the weekend but spent a quiet Halloween night at home, watching Rifftrax of scary movies and eating the last Reese’s peanut-butter “pumpkin” from the US.
Florist in Kanazawa Station
Documenting Halloween in Japan (7)
Posted in Consumer Culture, Culture, Expat Living, Halloween, tagged パン屋, bakery, Halloween on 2011/11/01 | 1 Comment »
Part 7: Bakeries
"Limited time only: Halloween. Cookie pumpkin bread: flaky crust! Filled with Ebisu Kabocha. Plenty of kabocha breads for sale!"
While grocery stores presumably have Halloween decor because of manufacturers’ creation of Halloween-themed products, local chain bakeries, where the products are made fresh and in-house, have also embraced Halloween. For instance, for the Kanazawa-based chain German Bakery, a subsidiary of the Yamazaki Bread corporation, which also runs a variety of other subsidiary bread shops, this is not really a surprise–corporate headquarters developed the Halloween-themed foods just like it develops all seasonal or new products.
Documenting Halloween in Japan (6)
Posted in Advertisements, Consumer Culture, Expat Living, Halloween, tagged grocery stores, Halloween, kabocha on 2011/10/31 | 3 Comments »
Part 6: Grocery Stores
Grocery stores in Japan have set up Halloween displays, too.
Marue, Kanazawa
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