Halloween in Japan

Halloween (ハロウィーン) in Japan is of course a purely commercial celebration, spread more or less as in my country (Italy), maybe just a little less known.

Halloween is perfectly in keeping with the Japanese craze of unbridled consumerism and disguise.
In the days before this day, especially in cities like Tokyo or Osaka, you can find various shops "decorated" with an Halloween theme, with pumpkins and things like that, many clubs and discos that organize costume parties on the night of October 30, and various other events aimed to attract people and make some extra money. The custom of trick or treat among children is mostly unknown.

In particular, some very popular events take place every year in the American amusement parks of Disneyland (Tokyo) and Universal Studios (Osaka), more information on their official websites. In the outskirts of Tokyo, there have been for many years a few parades that are becoming increasingly important, but they are not held on October 30 as you might think, but one or more days before the Halloween night, so if you are in Japan in that period and you want to go to one of these parades, find out the exact date and time:

-the Hello Halloween Pumpkin Parade (official website) in Harajuku, along Omotesando street. It is the oldest Halloween parade organized in Japan (since 1982);

-the Roppongi Hills Halloween Parade, in Roppongi, more information can be found in the events section of the website of the Roppongi Hills shopping center, which organizes the event;

-the Kawasaki Halloween Parade, the biggest parade among those mentioned, it doesn't take place in Tokyo but in Kawasaki, a large commuter town very close to Tokyo, a few minutes away by train. The parade takes place near the East Exit of Kawasaki station, and is organized by an "Italian-style" shopping center called La Cittadella (official website). All these costume events are usually aimed at children, but it is not uncommon to see disguised adults and even animals among the children.
Another curious thing is that not all costumes are in keeping with Halloween, among witches and vampires it's not hard to find characters from mangas or other disguises that nothing have to do with the Halloween themes.

Guided tours, activities and other things to do

If you are planning a trip to Japan and you want to do something more than just visiting famous places and monuments, we suggest you to use Govoyagin.

How to use Govoyagin

Govoyagin is a very useful website to enrich your travel experience, especially if you are going solo or it's your first time in Japan.
Because of the language barrier (and more), in Japan it is very difficult to interact with the locals and to get off the tourist track.
Thanks to Govoyagin you can find a lot of interesting and sometimes unique guided tours and activities all over Japan (and not only in Japan), that you would otherwise never be able to enjoy.
But there's more: on Govoyagin you can also buy tickets for several famous attractions, events, transportation and other useful services for tourists. Last but not least, you can reserve a table in hundreds of restaurants.

Some examples

• You can buy tickets in advance to visit some very popular attractions and skip the queue at the ticket office, such as the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Disneyland or Universal Studios Osaka
• You can book unique tours and activities, like visiting temples in Kyoto accompanied by a samurai, or driving around Tokyo or Osaka on a go-kart dressed as Super Mario, or even playing videogames against an unbeatable Japanese otaku at his place
• You can try the tea ceremony in Kyoto and watch a real sumo training session in Tokyo
• You can reserve your table in a lot of restaurants, for example the many legendary 3-star Michelin in Japan, or the crazy Shinjuku Robot Restaurant
• ...

Take a look at Govoyagin

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