Halloween in Kimonos in Kyoto, Japan (October 31, 2025)
Happy Halloween from Kyoto, Japan.
The standard witches hat just won’t cut it in Kyoto, Japan
Japan does halloween differently. They are not accustomed to a night of door to door trick-or-treating. There are some parties, sure, but it’s not the full on social event that it is in the United States … at least not yet. We didn’t see many people in costumes during the morning or evening commutes. It’s just not a big day here. There were some feeble attempts at the retail stores and a few efforts made this weekend at a few tourist destinations.
We went for a tea ceremony instead … I like this form of dressing up!
Sure, it’s not the same as a halloween party, but everyone at the tea ceremony was in a kimono and I’ll take it. We were guided through a traditional Japanese tea ceremony from start to finish.
A Tea Ceremony in Japan is About Slowing Down & Enjoying LIfe
Why does every step matter in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony? The imperfection follows the imperfection of life. Life is messy and imperfect. And yet, we always strive to do and be our best. As I have always maintained, it’s the effort that counts more than the outcome. There is precisely ONE moment and ONE opportunity. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about tuning into the oneness of the moment and being mindful to the importance of this one moment happening.
There is stillness and silence. There is intention. There is preparation well before the tea ceremony begins and there is a conclusion and a finality to finishing what was started; knowing that it will likely happen again in the future. To prepare for the likely outcome, but not expect it. To be ready for another time when we shall meet again, yet treat this present moment as precious as if it may be the last. There is so much beauty in all of this. I loved every minute of it.
Violet voulenteered to be the “master in training” for the day
Once the teacher was done explaining, she asked for a volunteer and of course Violet raised her hand. Violet was able to recreate what she had just learned and demonstrate the care and attention to detail that went into preparing the tea. This was a throwback to the original tea get together back in Paris with Wendy Swire (see related blog post). Eat your heart out Wendy. You started this with, “What’s your tea?”
And, of course, all the pictures. So many pictures. In celebration of halloween, I even wore a mask for this one:
The mask blended in a bit too much with my umbrella … oh well
I know we didn’t have “professional” photographers, but we sure did take a to of pictures dressed in these kimonos. Each of us picked out our favorites from the ones we were able to choose from. As a bonus, both Elena and Violet had their hair put up by the costume professionals helping all of us get “ready” for the tea ceremony. I love how it all turned out. A fabulous experience all around.
Affer having a fabulous time in kimonos, we headed back to our hotel room, but not before making a quick stop at Krispy Kreme for some Halloween Donuts.
The concept is here, but the execution is still a bit lacking …
It very easily could be the difference in taste pallets, but I’m telling you that a sweet potato donut isn’t a thing. Nobody wants one. Sure, the ghost is cute and the donut looks nice, but yuck. Same goes for what SHOULD be the best flavored one of the bunch. The Caramel pumpkin donut. The caramel needs to taste like caramel but when it’s light on the flavor of caramel and too forward on the flavor of custard, it’s not there yet.
Japan has yet to develop its sweet tooth. That’s probably why most Japanese people are very, very skinny. When your confectionary is off and your donuts have flavors like sweet potato, it’s easy to say, “no thanks,” I’ll have the amazing salmon or tuna sushi instead.
Which, by the way, has been totally ON POINT since we got here. Each lunch and dinner has been incredible in Japan. Tomorrow, we head out of Kyoto and begin the last leg of our Japan journey to Osaka where we will wrap up with Violet’s favorite: Super Nintendo World!
