Publicité
Halloween stirs Japanese imagination
A handful of giggling Japanese women wearing devil?s horns, cat costumes and evil nurses with their eyes popping out gather under a giant neon-orange pumpkin outside a Tokyo shopping mall. A Halloween street party?
?Ah, no, this is cosplay,? says 20-year-old Saori, referring to costume role-play, or the Japanese past-time of dressing up as their favourite animation movie character. ?Halloween is different,? Saori says, giggling as she tugs at her hooded cape with cat ears.
The cult around fancy dress, and Japan?s love of quirky festivals and eccentric trends in general, may go towards explaining why Halloween has turned from an obscure foreign celebration into a popular cultural event there. ?Japanese wear suits every day, so at times they like to be different,? says Saori?s friend Akiko. In fact, the street party in Kawasaki, on the outskirts of Tokyo, is just a warm-up to Halloween on October 31. The big bash happens on the Sunday before Halloween, when thousands of Japanese witches, vampires, devils and ghouls fill the streets of Kawasaki in a giant street parade.
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
