It’s October. It's the time of the year when the days begin getting shorter, the weather more unpredictable, and hyakkins (100 yen shops) start displaying a lot more orange and black items. Yup, October is also the month of Halloween.
When you see the photos of the throngs of crowds that threaten to overflow Shibuya each year, it’s hard to believe that the occasion only started getting more widely known in Japan about two decades ago, when Tokyo Disneyland first held its Halloween event in 1997. The way Halloween is celebrated in Japan differs from other countries, in that trick-or-treating isn’t commonplace. Instead, people dress up in all sorts of costumes and take it to the streets.
Seeing how Japan is where cosplay originated, it isn’t surprising that the costumes people dress up in for Halloween are generally of impressive standards.
The Halloween costumes each year also provide a peek into the trends in Japan for the year, like how more dressed up in Pokémon-related costumes in 2016, the year Pokémon GO swept the world.
