Halloween in Tokyo...

I honestly can't believe that I had to come half way around the globe to experience such a fun Halloween! The day started with Sydney and I catching a ride out to Nicholas's school in Chofu for festivities out there. They had a Halloween parade followed by a carnival and class party - The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time! The costumes there were pretty funny - my favorite was the Dixie Chicks... Sydney did her best to keep up with the parade and loved being able to walk like a princess in her Belle dress...

After school we came home and started getting ready for trick or treating - I had been warned that our apartment complex was "the place to be" for trick or treaters so I really wasn't sure what to expect. My neighbor, Amy, rented out the party room and set it up for several families to eat dinner and gather before going out. Trick or treating was scheduled to start at 5:30, but by 5:15, there were people already gathering and looking in the windows wondering where everyone was...

Patti took the kids up and down the street and I handed out candy - I have NEVER seen so many trick or treaters! It seemed every expat family plus hundreds of Japanese children came through - The Japanese children were SOOOOOOOO sweet and polite - they knew two phrases, trick or treat (which sounded like "tlick or tleato") and thank you... Several of them bowed as they took the candy but they waited ever so patiently and just smiled. There were many witches and Minnie Mouses.

They kept coming for 2 hours solid - we just went through the candy - we had one huge stash from everyone and just had to keep refilling the bowls. But it was pretty fun... I'll post some pictures next.

In the end, the kids were exhausted after the full day - but apparently not the Daddies! Chris and Steve went out to explore and returned about 4:30 AM! Chris said that with it being Halloween, it was almost like a "freak show" with all of the people dressed up - he said he saw several "chamber maids!" Guess it must have been like the bad train wreck that you just had to watch to see what would happen next!