Happy Halloween!

Today is Halloween. In Japan it is not so popular as Christmas. How do you spend Halloween? What kind of costume do you wear? I only spent Halloween three times in the USA, but I have some memories.
First time was in 1996, in Washington State. I made a Jack-o'-lantern for the first time. We do not have such big pumpkins in Japan. Japanese pumpkins are small and their skins are very hard, so I thought it must be difficult to carve the pumpkin, but it was not. It was fun to make it.
Second and third times were in 2006 and 2007 in Florida. It is very hot there, it's easy for pumpkins to rot, therefore I did not carve. I joined the interesting lunch gathering of my host family's company. All of them dressed up. It was fun too.
Speaking of Halloween, I remember the movie E.T. which is one of my favorite. Recently I went to see four movies. I liked the Michael Jackson's "This is it" very much. He is a real entertainer. I miss him. I liked "The Time Traveler's Wife" too.

十三夜（jyusan ya）

Autumn is the good season to see the moon. Especially on the 15th night of the eighth month and the 13th night of the ninth month in the Japanese old calendar are famous for moon-viewing, tsukimi (月見) or o tsukimi (お月見). 15th night is called jyugoya (十五夜) , it is a full moon night, and it is also called chushu no meigetsu (中秋の名月), the harvest moon. 13th night is called jyusanya (十三夜). They fall on in September and October of the modern calendar. Today is jyusanya.
On jyugoya we decorate Japanese pampas grass called susuki (すすき) and offer and eat dumplings called tsukimi dango (月見団子) to celebrate the beauty of the moon. Sweet potatoes are also offered. On jyusanya beans and chestnuts are offered. Therefore alternative names of the celebrations are imo meigetsu (芋名月), literally potato harvest moon, and mame meigetsu (豆名月), bean harvest moon, and kuri meigetsu (栗名月), chestnut harvest moon.
The custom of jyugoya came from China, but the custom of jyusanya is original in Japan.
We could see the beautiful moon tonight.

ホームビデオ記念日（homu video kinenbi）： Anniversary of Home Video

They say October 29 is homu video kinenbi (ホームビデオ記念日), anniversary of Home Video. On October 29, 1969, Japanese three big electrical appliance manufacturers Sony, Panasonic, and Victor Company of Japan, Limited published the development of the home video tape recorder. Sony was beta system, and Panasonic and Victor adopted VHS (Video Home System). For the next few years there were keen competitions between the two standards. There are many recording media such as DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and Hard Disk now.
I like the TV programs which broadcast the funny home videos taken by general people.