Ahhh...memories of Halloween. Two of the three Jack O'Lanterns that you see above were created by me years ago when I was teaching the masses how to carve pumpkins. The other one was actually quite delicious.
Indeed, tomorrow will be Halloween although unfortunately things are not going to be quite as festive due to the horrors of COVID-19. The medical experts here have stated that trick-or-treat is going to be a no-no and that families ought to search for more virtual/internal activities to celebrate the bewitching night. I checked the YouTube channel with the live cameras over Shibuya, Tokyo. Usually if Halloween falls on a weekend there, it was guaranteed that the preceding Friday and the two nights afterwards would probably have thousands of folks squeezing into the neighbourhood like old-fashioned college students trying to stuff themselves into a taxi or a telephone booth. Thankfully if sadly, I didn't see any of that on the cameras today.
As for me, my Halloween education was left back in Japan years ago and our family no longer gives out the treats since that was made into a collective neighbourhood activity years ago as well. And cosplay was never my thing to begin with.
Odd bodkins! I was searching a couple of days ago for something that would fit the theme of Halloween when the perfect video was discovered on YouTube. If anyone ever fantasized how Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" would like with a Japanese cast and a Danny Elfman-esque song to match, this is for you.
Plus, if you are a visual kei band fan and wondered about an "Ocean's Eleven" collaboration, "HALLOWEEN PARTY" is most definitely for you. Created by L'Arc-en-Ciel's vocalist and songwriter Hyde, he along with Oblivion Dust's guitarist K.A.Z. got together to form the rock unit VAMPS in the late 2000s. Then a few years later, the pair got together a whole bunch of rockers for the event known as "HALLOWEEN PARTY 2012" under the band name of Halloween Junky Orchestra where the single "HALLOWEEN PARTY" was introduced and then released on October 17th that year.
So along with VAMPS, Halloween Junky Orchestra included actress/singer Anna Tsuchiya（土屋アンナ）, Ryuji Aoki（青木隆治）, Aki（明希）of the rock band Sid, Acid Black Cherry, kyo from the band D'ERLANGER, singer/tarento Daigo, Tatsuro（逹瑯）of MUCC, Tomoko Kawase（川瀬智子） in both of her incarnations Tommy february6 and Tommy heavenly6, guitarist Hitsugi（柩）of NIGHTMARE, musician RINA of the band SCANDAL and singer/cellist Kanon Wakeshima（分島花音）.
I have to say that the video is glorious and director Ken Nikai（二階健）, who had also taken care of the music videos for Hyde and those two bands of his, ought to get a firm and hearty handshake from Burton. It seems right out of the FAO Schwarz idea for Halloween. Plus Hyde apparently must have listened to the soundtracks for "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice" (and perhaps even the music for the past several years of "Doctor Who") for inspiration for "HALLOWEEN PARTY". It's truly a grand march for the boys and ghouls.
The single peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and despite the lateness of the release, "HALLOWEEN PARTY" ended up as the 80th-ranked single of 2012, going Gold.
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