Halloween in Japan (Hirakata, Japan) 10/28/2016

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It’s not quite Halloween yet, but I don’t think I’ll be doing much more for it, because I have school the day of.

Today was the school’s Halloween Festival. There were tons of booths full of food set up; takoyaki, noodles, castella- all kinds of things. There were also a lot of people there. Students from the school, students from high-schools, and unrelated random people were all milling about. Some people were in uniform or costumes, so the crowd was interesting to watch.

Yesterday, I went to Universal Studios Japan with my roommate and her friends. Again, there were a lot of students in uniform (maybe they also only had a half-day of school?) and people wearing costumes. We rode a few rides and went through a few mazes that were horror-themed. They werenโ€™t really scary, though.

Because itโ€™s the parkโ€™s 15th Anniversary, theyโ€™re having an event there called โ€œRebornโ€, and had a parade with that theme. At one point, they stopped the floats and had people come into the street and dance. It was a lot of fun.

After 6PM, workers dressed as zombies roamed the streets of the park, chasing after and scaring the attendees. When it hit a certain tome, they stopped and danced to Michael Jacksonโ€™s โ€˜Thrillerโ€™ (well, a cover of it).

The last place we went to was the Harry Potter world, the place I had been looking forward to the most. Iโ€™ll have to go back there again, because, while we got to ride the castle ride, I didnโ€™t get a chance to properly explore the area.

I bought a year-pass, though, so Iโ€™ll definitely go back many more times!

Kylie Kinion

*Rainbow Scholarship <i>Hello in your host country language</i>: ใ“ใ‚“ใซใกใฏ (Kon'nichiwa) <i>University</i>: Tulsa Community College <i>Expected graduation year</i>: 2018 <i>Destination</i>: Hirakata, Japan <i>Program Provider</i>: Oklahoma State University <i>Subject Matter, Major / minor</i>: Education / Japanese <i> Language of Study, if any </i>: Japanese <i>Housing</i>: Dorm <i>Demographic background</i>: First-generation, LGBTQ female <i>Future career aspirations</i>: English as a Foreign Language teacher abroad