Studio Ghibli gave out Pokémon sweets and other candy to Tokyo Halloween trick-or-treaters【Photo】

08:13 cherishe 0 Comments

And it looks like Hayao Miyazaki himself might have been the one handing them out.

Japan has really embraced Halloween celebrations in the last few years, with decorations going up around town and costumed street parties both organized and unofficial taking place. Trick-or-treating at private homes still isn’t really a thing in Japan, but the number of shops and businesses handing out candy to kids in costumes is on a steady rise too.

Usually, the places giving out candy are located along a shopping street or inside a shopping mall, places that already have a lot of foot traffic. However, there’s also a business on a quiet, largely residential street in Koganei in western Tokyo that gives out candy. It’s a business that generally doesn’t have a lot of walk-in visitors, either, but it’s one that pretty much every kid in the country is familiar with Studio Ghibli.

▼ A Halloween trick-or-treater getting some candy at Studio Ghibli

In Japan, pretty much any time in late October is fair game for Halloween events, not just October 31. So on October 27, the official Studio Ghibli Twitter account shared the above photo, along with the message:

“This morning a bunch of kids dressed up for Halloween came to see us. It was so heartwarming to see them form groups and take turns shouting ‘Trick or treat!’ together.”

Of course, the heartwarming feelings then spread to Twitter commenters, who reacted with:

“So cute how the candy packs are nicely wrapped.”
“Wow, even Ghibli is getting into Halloween culture!”
“It must put you in a nice, cheerful mood all day to see those kids first thing in the morning.”
“And there’s some Pokémon Piplup candy in the bag that kid has!”
“I’m jealous of those kids! I bet it felt like going to a theme park for them.”
“This feels like the essence of Ghibli and its anime.”
“I can totally picture the kind face of the older guy giving out the candy.”
“Those are Hayao Miyazaki’s hands, aren’t they?”

The angle of the photo means we can’t see the man’s face or facial hair, but his attire definitely looks like the type that Studio Ghibli co-founder/director Hayao Miyazaki favors (the sweater in particular looks like an exact match to the one in the close-up photo of Miyazaki’s hands here).

Given Ghibli’s commitment to staying unobtrusive to the community, and the fact that they were handing out Halloween candy on a weekday morning, odds are the trick-or-treating was something planned ahead of time for local preschoolers. It’s a very sweet way, (both figuratively and literally) to give a little something back to the neighborhood, and for all of us who don’t live in Koganei, thankfully there’s another way for us to get some delicious Ghibli food these days.

Source: Twitter/@JP_GHIBLI (1, 2)
Top image: Studio Ghibli (edited by SoraNews24)
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