I’ve been meaning to post about this year’s Halloween stupor for days, but (alas) I’ve been bogged down at work by actual work and haven’t found the time to reminisce. Now it’s Monday, and I’ve just returned from a five-day weekend vacation (that’s right), and I don’t have class until fourth period--which means it’s time killlin’ time.
Halloween’s sort of a big deal among expat language instructors in Japan; however, aside from the occasional jack-o-lantern sticker in a supermarket window, the schmaltzy holiday is snubbed by most Japanese people. Every year, the JETs in Shiga throw a huge costume party in a town about 40 minutes south of me called Omihachiman. I’m not typically the Halloween Dance Party U.S.A. kind of guy, but this event had been hyped so much since the day I arrived that I feared not showing up meant immediate and total ostracism.
So, what the hell: I went as a wayfaring stranger sporting a knit hat-o-beer cans
that I picked up in Kyoto (of all places). The scrapped cans were of mostly Midwestern beers such as Miller High Life and the dreaded Pabst Blue Ribbon, which added an element of nostalgia to my get-up. I carried a sweatshirt and a few extra mustaches in my knapsack-on-a-stick, which came in handy later in the evening when my scantily-clad friends got cold or became bored with their hairless faces.
[Me and Mario (aka: Brian). Brian and I both use similar hammers in the classroom. (They don’t hurt).]
[Me, Erin, and Mark. Erin was the Queen of Hearts, and Mark was the square red background of a prevalent super market’s logo (Not pictured: the rest of the logo.]
[Me and Erin at Omihachiman station, 7a.m. Saturday morning. As the last train bound for Nagahama departed Omihachiman at 11p.m. Friday evening, we were forced to stay out all night and grab the first train home in the morning. I really don’t remember this photo at all, but I recognize that longing-for-sleep look in my eyes.]
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