The perfect solution: jack-o-lanterns!
Part I: The Great Kabocha Purchasing Adventure
Of course, in order to carve jack-o-lanterns, I had to first buy some pumpkins. While your run-of-the mill Halloween pumpkin is almost impossible to find in Japan (I did find two at a florist, but they were $30 a piece. I don't think so!), the Japanese eat a lot of pumpkin. You can buy a Kabocha (Japanese cooking pumpkin) in just about any Japanese grocery store... in four pieces! That's right. It seems to be standard practice to quarter one's Kabocha before selling them. But surely some stores offer whole pumpkins, right? Wrong. I went (by foot) to eight (count 'em, EIGHT) supermarkets AND a produce market without success.
At the last of the eight supermarkets, about half an hour before I was supposed to meet Misato, I decided to buy some solid but somewhat pumpkin-shaped squash and hollow them out with a melon baller. As I put the squash in my basket, I noticed that the labels sealing the wrappers on the adjacent Kabocha bore the logo of the particular store I was patroning. Never before has anyone so fervently hoped that a market (super or not) quarters its pumpkins on site!
After a conversation with a produce person which was both longer than it should have been and grammatically awkward (Have YOU ever mimed the act of quartering a pumpkin? Turns out the word is スライスする for the Japanese-speakers among you), the aforementioned produce person ran (literally) to the back and returned with two, large-ish, blissfully intact Kabocha!
Part II: The Great Kabocha Carving Adventure
On the way to the Seminar House, I gave Misato a general overview of the pumpkin-carving procedure. She said it sounded a bit dangerous, but I assured her that in a lifetime of annualpumpkin-carving fun, I'd never once cut, burned, or otherwise injured myself.
Once we got back, within 30 seconds of picking up the knife, I sliced my finger open and bled all over the floor, sink, and everything in between. Smooth, no? Fortunately, Megan had agreed to join in on the seasonal fun, and Megan's first aid kit comes with gauze. She patched me up nicely and it was determined that my cut wasn't serious enough to need stitches. I guess a little gore fits in nicely with the Halloween theme.
A few paper towels later, we were underway again and having quite a good time. Megan brought some American candy to enhance the cultural experience and we began carving. The smallest knife I could find was rather large and the pumpkins were rather small, so we went with a traditional pattern: triangle eyes and a toothy-grin. Since the Kabocha were bred for eating, not for carving, they were quite thick-walled. That made it hard to get the tops off, but, surprisingly, didn't cause much trouble after stage 1. Having benefited from my awesome display of this-is-how-
definitely-NOT-to-do-it, Misato carved her pumpkin very adeptly. She clearly enjoyed herself, which made all the trouble absolutely worth it, since I owed her a good time after the great visit I had with her family. She also got to meet a lot of other Sem. 1 residents, who wandered over to watch the project unfold. Since she's been wanting to get to know some more international students, the day was a success on all counts.Part III (Epilogue): Added Kabocha Benefits
1. I sautéed the leftover eye- and mouth-shaped chunks in sake, sugar, and soy sauce and had them for dinner. Freakin' delicious! So much so that I went out and bought one of those dreaded Kabocha-quarters to eat later this week.
2. Roasted pumpkin seeds. Also freakin' delicious.
3. Since I've been lighting my jack-o-lantern up in my room, it smells like roasted pumpkin now. While that makes me a little hungry at times, it also gives the place a warm, cozy feel.
Couldn't have asked for a better out-of-country (or in-country for that matter) Halloween!
