My love for Halloween costumes cannot be overstated.
At the beginning of October every year, I tell myself, "Okay, Subconscious Anjali. You have three weeks to come up with a good costume. Go!" Happily, my subconscious has never let me down. This year I was struck with a good idea during that hazy morning time when you turn over in bed and think, I hope I have like an hour until the alarm goes off. On this particular morning, I then thought: I've got it! Zombie tour guide!
You see, the parking lot of every tourist spot in Japan is packed with giant tour buses and each of these buses comes with its own Bus Guide, a cute lady in a brightly-colored suit who cheerfully leads the crowd of senior citizens shuffling along behind her, holding a tiny flag aloft so they can spot her at all times. It's not difficult to imagine, post-zombie-apocalypse, cheerfully dead bus guides leading around their still-shuffling zombie charges.
Surprisingly, the most difficult part of wearing a Halloween costume in a Halloween-less country is not the process of locating the costume components. (The Halloween gods were smiling upon my trip to the used-clothing area of Nagoya. Also, the 100-yen store is the greatest costume supply shop ever.) It's riding the train for an hour with your face covered in fake blood, accompanied by a male friend dressed as a giant Pikachu, knowing that no one else on the train has any idea you are doing this for Halloween. You get a lot of stares, let me tell you.
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Comments (12)
Is Halloween only celebrated in the US? I am was talking about my costume to various blog buddies in Norway, Australia, etc & they said they had never dressed up or celebrated! I guess I just assumed (as usual) that the entire world does as we do! Love your costume.
Posted by Jessica | October 31, 2006 10:47 PM
hahah, love it! i saw this in your flickr and it totally had me laughing. i remember those ladies in kamakura when i was there last year. the flags cracked me up!
Posted by gleek | November 1, 2006 12:37 AM
You are a genius!!
Posted by Tasha | November 1, 2006 12:44 AM
*great* idea! this post is cracking me up. happy halloween! (guess trick or treating is out, eh?)
Posted by mipmup | November 1, 2006 3:42 AM
We don't traditionally celebrate it in Austria, but of course it's slowly creeping over the ocean. For a few years now we've had kids trying to get sweets from us (we don't open the door :P) and since any reasons is a good reason to party, we have lots of parties going on. Me, I'm not too excited about it all, but hey, I totally understand why Americans are (and kids, of course).*
*Which, by the way, doesn't mean that I am comparing Americans to kids!
Posted by Barbara | November 1, 2006 4:03 AM
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
Posted by Mariko | November 1, 2006 4:21 AM
ha! you look great! but, where's the picture of the giant Pikachu?!? really looking forward to meeting you in person next week!
Posted by kelly | November 1, 2006 7:36 AM
Good work young lady! Cute/horrifying ratio completely in balance. Well don!
Posted by modadimagno | November 1, 2006 1:52 PM
reason we belong together #376: mutual appreciation for/fear of zombies.
Posted by Rob | November 1, 2006 1:55 PM
That's great! I was a bumblebee on the train in my town. It was so funny to get all those stares--at least people had a reason to stare this time (as opposed to every other day)!
Posted by molly | November 1, 2006 2:59 PM
I think I can imagine the kind of stares you got...I bet it was sorta like the looks my professor got yesterday when he showed up dressed as a gorilla dressed as an M&M.
Posted by sara | November 2, 2006 12:02 AM
my favorite quote of 2006:
"my subconscious has never let me down."
-anjali prasertong, 10.31.06
Posted by jon lee | November 4, 2006 5:12 AM