Friend's Surprise Party/Halloween/Super Duper Halloween

Hello again!
I realized that I only updated this blog once in October...which is really terrible. Although I doubt anyone really cares about my blog that much, sorry for not updating! Before, when I didn't update, it was mainly due to laziness. However, now I can actually say that I have been super super busy and have barely had the time to update my blog. ごめんね！
So much has happened since my last update, which was almost a month ago, and now. I will try to, once again, massively dump all my pictures and ramblings onto this blog. Enjoy!

First off, I would like to start with a surprise party planned by my friend James' host family along with our group of friends here in Japan.
His host family is super nice and hospitable and decided to throw a surprise birthday party for him, in which our whole friend group was invited to. It was very hush-hush. After accidentally going to the wrong train station and worrying that we were gonna get there late and ruin the surprise, we made it to his house on time. His host family wanted us to dress up in Halloween costumes because it was near Halloween, which resulted in some cute and ridiculous photos.

Who u callin pinhead

Squad

Bunnies

There were even poppers with confetti of international flags on there. The whole thing was super decked out, and it was a ton of fun! Our friend James, of course, was happily surprised. Happy happy birthday!

This picture doesn't do the actual amount of food that was present any justice

Food and friends

There was SO MUCH food there. SO MUCH. Along with that giant tray of sushi, salad, and cocktail shrimp, there was also a cheese fondue with a variety of bread, meat, and vegetables to dip. Also, there was sashimi, grilled meat, cake, and some fruity alcoholic drinks.
After the feast, we sang happy birthday and had him open all the presents. Then, we went for an all-night karaoke sesh until 5AM. It was super tiring but a ton of fun. My first all-night karaoke session ever.

Then, there was actual Halloween.
Since none of us were sure of whether or not Halloween is a big thing in Japan (my host family told me that it was not), we had to google for a certain area that seemed to celebrate the holiday, Shinsaibashi. Prior to going to Shinsaibashi, we volunteered at a high school festival in Osaka. It was really cute and fun, and I would post the pictures here, but I'm not sure if it would be weird and bad privacy-wise to post them since the high schoolers are minors...
Anyway, after the festival, we headed out to Shinsaibashi.

Me, Christian, and Cherish

Last minute lame-cute bunny costume

Christian, me, James, and Cherish!

We put together some costumes quickly to be somewhat festive and went to a place called Triangle Park, which was supposed to be where Halloweenie people were gathering. I honestly didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The quality of costumes in Japan is superb. It's like the really neat and creative cosplays that you see being worn to conventions in America, except on Halloween, in a park. Seeing all this makes me really wanna work on putting a cool costume together too so one year I can have something to be proud of!

Very well made Jack and Sally costumes

A Clockwork Orange!

Silent Hill nurse

No Face x 2

Squad!

The Queen of Hearts and Alice

Attack on Titan

Hot dog, baby, and eggplant...???

An entire Death Note

The Grudge in 2015 - coming out of your Instagram photo

Sad bunnies

My all time favorite lazy Halloween costume - the classic sheet ghost!!

A pineapple

More guys from A Clockwork Orange - I didn't know that it was popular in Japan!

Side note about the sheet ghost guy: there was actually pieces of veiled netting material stitched over the eyes and the mouth holes, so it was a deluxe sheet ghost.
The costumes I saw on Halloween put American Halloween costumes to shame, even though Halloween is an American holiday...to my American friends reading this, we need to step it up next year!!