Dolly Koghar gives her generation’s perspective on this spooky season.
My youngest left Kobe too early to remember much about life there, including Halloween, but the older three hold vivid and fond memories of what it was like, especially in the early times when it wasn’t so commercialised. We gaijins, foreigners of whichever nationality, weren’t too many, even collectively, and lived bunched up in certain areas, with our children attending the same 3-4 international schools. Life for us was a bubble, totally away from the locals, almost as outcasts!
But Japan being as safe as safe can get, the kids set out on foot to trick-or-treat in groups, targeting mostly expat homes and apartments, especially the Western community who’d be well prepared with treats and even be dressed-up in the spirit of the day, and were also the most likely to give out the most coveted candies, like Mars bars. Very early on, those who occasionally visited a Japanese home would get a bewildered look upon the homeowners seeing a bunch of foreign kids dressed as ghouls and witches at their doorway, and they’d either have the door shut in their faces, or have to explain Halloween to the more curious folk. After the latter, they’d come away with the season’s mikans, juicy oranges; not exactly trick-or-treat stash.
So, the gangs of trick-or-treaters, crisscrossing on the streets, updated each other on which home to target for the best stash. Though expecting cheap candies from our kanjoos Indians, they were the most fun to visit, as they were members of our own community – back then, the Sindhis and Punjabis were business families, while the Gujaratis and Marwaris were pearl exporters. Our home was away from the hub, and yearly we had a steady stream of children coming by, whether as part of our children’s gang or otherwise; for the rumoured Kit Kat bars we handed out.
Meanwhile, when we moved to Australia, during those early years, Halloween was barely acknowledged. Very recently, it’s finally slowly catching up. But even then, the participation is only by a few homes, far between, with many discouraging knocking or ringing of doorbells, and choosing to leave goodies outside the door itself. Regardless, these are core memories for my family and me. I asked the community for their own memories of long-ago Halloweens, and these were their answers:
• “Back when we lived in Rishi Court, many tenants were Americans with kids studying in ISB with me who came to trick-or-treat at our door. My mum, unaware of the Halloween culture, innocently offered them egg sandwiches. We siblings still get a good laugh recalling the look on the kids’ faces.”
• “For the last 30 years, the kids in our condo gathered at the lobby at 5pm, and then together, they rode the elevator all the way to the uppermost floor. Just this once, they’d enjoy the mammoth task of walking down all 24 floors, trick or treating. The kids were a mixed bag: there were the inquisitive ones, the aggressive ones, the imps and the little lambs, and of course the ‘devils’ as well as the lady-like and gentlemanly types. But despite the innocent urge to attack the candies, good manners always intervened!”
• “My scariest Halloween was when we girls dared ourselves to visit an old, abandoned hospital up on the hill. The broken windows and crumbling walls were eerie; we felt watched, sending chills down our spines. It’s a portal we shouldn’t have opened.”
• “I’ll never forget winning the creativity category for Halloween dress-up competition. I stuck lots of chocolate wrappings, chewing gum, popcorn, tissue paper, etc. on an old T-shirt, with a sign saying, ‘movie theatre floor.’ I’m still proud of that, to this day!”
• “Halloween was a time of innocent thrills, childhood excitement; memories I cherish to this day. It meant a break from the school uniform and a chance to have fun dressing up, and to stand out, I usually opted to be a pop-star or someone famous. I would be tense, uncertain about whether I’d remain stuck trick-or-treating with my cousins, or get invited into the popular crowd – and if so, whether that crowd might venture into too-daring activities like visiting spooky deserted locations or sneaking into bars.”
