Halloween is for Horror Movies

I want to talk about a special experience I had this Halloween. I didn't want this day to pass by just sitting in the dorm room and doing nothing. My only Halloween memory is playing a boring 'Pinning the Tail on the Donkey' game with some Canadian teachers when I was 11 years old. I had heard that here in Japan many people wear scary costumes and do interesting stuffs, so I headed to Kawasaki where the Halloween parade was held.

The problem was my phone broke down immediately after I got there. I couldn't care less about what was going on in the street. I was only concerned about my phone. Feeling blue, I decided to watch a movie at a nearby theater. For the Halloween day special, a 1970's Italian horror film, Suspiria, was being shown. I've wanted to watch it since before and now was my chance. 

 

Although I usually prefer movies that make a happy and bright impression (my favorite movies are Disney), I really enjoyed this one. The story is kind of typical. An American girl joins a ballet academy in Germany. She experiences some mysterious things, such as the murder of her classmates. At the end, she finds out what has been behind all the incidents.

This movie was like a nightmare, but a very beautiful one. Girls were running away constantly, killed brutally, blood everywhere... Even these horrible scenes were so sophisticated. Every scene was beautiful. I liked the melody in the background too. The delicate but frightening sound doubled the mysteriousness of the movie. Later I found out it's considered one of the best soundtracks in the horror movie history.

It was spooky coming back home alone in the dark. The fact that my phone didn't work made my way even more scary. Besides, the situation of the main character was kind of similar to mine. She had started living in a foreign country, joined a school, made new friends and stayed in a dorm. I suddenly began to feel suspicious about my surroundings. I was like: 'All the people here in Tsurumi are nice, but they must be hiding something from me.' Fortunately, I got home fine. Watching a horror movie alone on Halloween in a strange land: this day, I will never forget.

 

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You can find the information about this movie here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076786/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

And you can listen to the stunning soundtrack here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUaCAIxSk4

 

Culture Shock at a School Festival

I witnessed the weirdest thing lately. Me and my friends visited the Kanagawa University Festival. At first there was nothing very special even for me, a foreigner. Students were playing music, singing, or selling snacks and some hand-made accessories, just like in any other school festival. However, things got different when we started watching the contest of Miss and Mister Kanagawa University. It was a contest where the audience picks someone as the representative face of their school.

 

The organization of the contest was like this: Each contestant starts by introducing themselves, and then they act in a proposal scene, and finally, they show their talent such as singing and dancing. What made me shudder with shock was step number two, "Acting in a proposal scene". In this step, each contestant is given a special situation, and they have to say the appropriate proposal words according to that.

 

[Narrator: (quiet music played in the background) Hotaru has been in love with Takuya ever since middle school, but unfortunately she couldn't tell him that because she was too shy. Seven years later, she runs into him in the park. Now, she wants to tell him about her feelings, and says... (the music stops)

 

The contestant:           ...            ]

The contestants acted seriously as if they were actually proposing to their lovers. It was really weird, students acting out a proposal and the audience evaluating it. However, I have to admit that I did enjoy it and laughed a lot. I picked boy no.4 and girl no.2 after some careful thoughts. Unfortunately, I couldn't submit the voting paper because I didn`t know where to put it. I heard that the girl that I picked became Miss Kanagawa University. I missed the boys' result, but I think the one I picked won. There was the most laughter of the audience in his turn.  

  

I respect this uniqueness of Japanese culture. This kind of "making a proposal scene" thing would only exist in Japan in the whole world. Come to think of it, there is a strange contest in my school in Korea too, although it's different from the one in Japan. It is called Mr. 外大 and it picks the most muscular male student of all. The contestants show their body in front of everyone only wearing really short pants. I heard they exercise really hard and go on a diet for a couple of months in an effort to win. I've never seen the contest myself, but my friend who watched it said the person who won even burst into tears and thanked his girlfriend. I guess there are some weird contests around the world.