Happy Halloween!

So it's Halloween, not such a big deal back home but here in Japan...hold on to your hats kids, you're in for one hellova ride!

Halloween isn't such a big hoo-ha back home so I was set on doing something here in Japan. Also being house quaratined for the past 10 days due to the chicken pox, I was all set to head out! I can only remember vague memories of Halloween when I was little. Sure we'd get dressed up and go trick-or-treating but that's about it when you're a kid. After that we don't really celebrate it or do anything.

I went as Pocahontas. I had bought this bargain feather necklace and brown potato-sack skirt from an Op shop in Osaka for really cheap. So since I was stuck at home with the pox, I had time to sew up the skirt so it fit better and even put some decorative stitching on the the sides. I had brown ribbon plaited into my hair and had lipstick 'war paint' lines drawn across my cheeks. I thought it was pretty good effort but once I hit the Osaka Halloween Loop Line Party, I felt underdressed!! The amount of effort people put into their costumes was amazing! Check out the photos and you'll see what I mean! It was so hillarious and so much fun! I'm thinking one of my reasons for staying another year in Japan is just to experience the madness again! hahaha

The Osaka Halloween Loop Line Party is held each Halloween and I think organised by a club called Sam & Dave's. Since Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, the festivities were held on Saturday. It's a pretty popular club for foreigners and there are 4 of them under that name, 3 of them in the Osaka area. Basically all these foreigners (including a lot of JETs) get dressed up in their Halloween best and meet on the Osaka loop line train platform around 8pm. After taking photos and checking out everyones costumes, someone with a megaphone announces that "It's time!" and everyone cheers and runs into the train. At each stop everyone has to run out and get into another carriage with the train staff trying to push everyone back in. It was simply madness! I ended up just staying on the same carriage at times because it was just so tiring!

It is so uber-crowded! and the poor normal commuters on the train have no idea what's going on! It's craaazy! The train staff are very well prepared and even had more staff put on duty. Some even join in on the fun but have to make sure the trains runs on time and the normal commuters are safe and can get on and off the train okay.

I went to Nami's house with Drew beforehand to help him get ready. He was going as a girl and Nami had everything perfectly set out for him. With a fabulous wig, grandma corset plus socks, hot outfit, stockings, jewellery and make-up, Drew was transformed into a sexy Marlilyn Monroe wannabe! Though he did look a little too comfortable! haha Nami wore a gorgeous cheong sam, fishnets and silver wig - she looked hot!

We went to Osaka station and met up with their other capoeira mates. Marsha, Mel and Mari were the most genki-est cheerleaders! They were simply classic! Gerard was a basketball player, May made her own outfit 2 nights before! So impressed with her beautiful belly dancer/genie outfit! Yoshi was a commando GI-Joe dude, Hiromi was Miss Saigon herself in a trraditional Vietnamese outfit complete with straw hat. I also met up with Zack, who was in his Inter Hyogo soccer jersey and a purple feather boa! Tran - a greek goddess, Charlie - he forgot his costume so ended up putting a band aid on his face and going as Nelly hahah and some other Hyogo soccer people.

There was Oren Onishi and Go-Go from Kill Bill. We also saw The Bride and Uma Thurman in the yellow Bruce Lee tracksuit. Here's just a few of the crazy outfits I saw on the night:
Red Power Ranger, Ultraman (and his mask had lights that flickered!), Nemo fish tank, Shower guy (he was in a bath robe with a shower curtain fixed onto his back!), Beer-Man (complete with a beer tap attached to his crotch!), playboy bunnies, Spiderman, Batman, crazy clowns, Japanese school girls, fairies, angels, a gang of sperm (they travel in packs squirting sake from a spray bottle into people's mouths saying "Swallow, don't spit!" haha), animals of all sorts, Winnie the Pooh, vampires, witches, Sponge Bob Squarepants, cave men, pirates, nuns, priets, Jesus (yep! I kid you not!), cowboys, lots of chicks in cheong sams, lots of guys in drag and your very own Party Boy. This guy was just wearing sneakers and a red G-string and everyone was cheering when they saw him on the train platform steps. Then everyone started cheering "Slide! Slide! Slide!" and in all his glory he slid down the silver stair railings. I was just so lucky enough to be on the top of the stairs close by when this happened and got a money shot! Check out his butt, so red from all the people that had slapped him on the ass! hahaha

After the loop line we headed to a club called Saza*e. It was meant to be free entry if you were in costume but the guy stopped me and said in Japanese that I wasn't in costume 'enough'!!! So unimpressed! Sure, like I wear lipstick lines on my face all the time I go clubbing! I mean I guess compared to others I wasn't in costume 'enough' sheesh should have showed more cleavage or something like Drew! haha Anyway I paid, got a free drink token and told him what I really thought, but I don't know if he even understood english! They were even going to make Gerard pay and I was like "He's a basketball player!!! He's got a freakin' basketball!!!" and then one of the guys behind the counter said it was ok.

The music was really good, though I haven't danced to house music for ages! With all the lighting and weird dancers going mental it reminded me of Gatecraher, Paul Van Dyk, Two Tribes or some other dance event on back home. After the club's sexy, Arabian genie-like, combat dancer chicks got off the stage, crazy costumed gaijin went wild. The cheerleading girls aka Marsha and Mel got up there with these crazy evil clown guys and it was just so much fun! and May also got the crowd going with her moves! The 2nd floor was more of a chill out area that overlooked the dancefloor and the 3rd floor was a separate room with more laid back music, fountain/pond, seats and interesting artworks. There was a private designer event before so they had free donuts! yum!

I also bumped into 3 CIR's (Coordinator of International Relations, another position you can be on the JET Programme) who I met at the Yashiro Hyogo Orientation. Colin was a sliced up ice hockey player, Chad was some pimp daddy of some sort with a 1000 yen hanging around his neck, and John and Takako were cave men/women. They even made their own outfits! So impressed! After some more dancing we headed to Sam & Dave's in Umeda for some hip hop and R&B music, via a convenient store for drinks and food.

Sam & Dave's was still going off at around 2am! It was 2000 yen entry but you got 2 drink tokens. The place was decked out all Halloween-like complete with pumpkins, skeletons, cobwebs and a rubber chicken hanging on a noose! The music was good but it was hard to dance because it was packed as! But the mix of music was quite strange at times. I found myself thinking 'what the?!' when the hip hop was interrupted by Avril Lavigne, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Offspring (don't get me wrong, I love the chillis and offspring but it was kinda out of place at the time), Lou Bega and other random top 40 songs. They also seem to love playing "You're just too good to be true/I love you baby!" old school version at the end of the night here in Japan. Throughout the night Drew managed to get groped, his dress pulled up and butt pinched not only by chicks but by guys too! Poor thing, so violated! hehe

We headed for some breakfast on the way to the train station, said our farewells and I fell straight to sleep on the train ride home. It takes about just under an hour to get back to Tarumi and I felt like crap and looked like crap walking up the hill to my place. I tried to look very genki and said "Ohaiyogozaimasu" as I passed a man and his son on their way to boy scouts, either that or they were getting in early with the trick-or-treating. I was trying not to make any eye contact and hoped that I didn't see any of my students!

Had a nice hot shower and crashed. Spent the whole day sleeping! Dammit I hate wasting the whole day on sleep but alas that's what all-nighters do to you.

Halloween will never be the same!