Happy Halloween 2008!

Have fun this Halloween and stay safe Here are some pictures, videos, and information related to Halloween

Let’s start with something optimistic

Why Halloween is Not Popular in Japan?

• Many people only know that Halloween takes place “sometime in autumn”
• Bad timing (right after late summer festivals)
• Use of pumpkins as decoration is seen as a waste
• Resemblance to the Bon Festival which evokes the image of “death”
• Lack of a culture of door-to-door canvasing.

Source: Global Voices

However, Tokyo has this thing called Yamanote Train…

Chocolate: Trick or Treat?

Chocolate is the food of the gods, according to the ancient Mayans, and a favorite of Halloween trick-or-treaters. But do these sweets come with an environmental price?

The fruit of the cacao tree–native to South and Central America– is now mostly grown in West Africa. Small farmers tend some 70,000 square kilometers of the tropical trees and produce about 3.5 million tons of the stuff yearly, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. But the trees need shade to survive, so no clear cutting of forests.

Also, such farmers typically don’t use fertilizers or pesticides, meaning you can gorge on chocolate to your environmentally-conscious heart’s content. Literally, dark chocolate is good for your heart.

So the environmental cost of chocolate isn’t in the chocolate itself but in the way it gets to your pumpkin pail: shipping, trucking and all those wrappers destined for the landfill.

There is a human cost as well. Human rights groups such as Save the Children have shown that kids are being enslaved to produce the cocoa. And small farmers don’t see much of the $13 billion in chocolate sales money worldwide.

If you want these farmers to get a fair cut, look for brands with the Fair Trade Certified label. It would be quite a trick to hand American children treats derived from African children’s slave labor.

Source: Scientific American

Nosferatu, 1922
Actor Max Schreck plays Count Orlok (Dracula) in this silent classic about the demise of Dracula. The names of locations and characters had to be changed after Bram Stoker’s heirs refused to give permission to make a movie from the author’s book.

Source: 90 Years of Vampires On the Screen (TIME Magazine)

Spooked by high energy prices? Save money with these tips. (Google)

Halloween is nearly here, and the days are getting shorter. Does the prospect of high energy prices this winter make your blood run cold? Check out how much you can save by taking the following simple steps.

Other Halloween Posts:

Anime Princess
Chirping Crickets
Calamitous Intents
Irreprehensible