It's getting closer to Halloween, but in Japan it's not so important. We sometimes see Halloween decorations or kids now might go trick-or-treating in their neighborhoods, but at least, my daughter, who was born toward the end of the Millennial generation had never experienced the trick or treat.

When I visited my parents last week, I spotted a Halloween decoration on the way. Compared to where I live now, my parents' neighborhood is much busier, so I guess this bar sign tries to get people's attention to use Halloween. I think it's been working for the way.

However, you can see a small shelter for a Jizō statue and a red lantern next to the decoration, which makes it looks rather funny. Unfortunately, it doesn't look spooky. Even so, I thought Halloween culture has been accepted by Japanese people more and more.

Well now, without further ado, I'd like to write about portrait photographs in the Victorian period today. I first heard about this from my American friend Matt a couple years ago. Back then, taking portrait photos was an extremely luxurious thing for ordinary people. Most people had never had their photographs taken before. When a family member passed away, the family sometimes had a portrait photograph to keep their memory. Dead people dressed up, and some of them still opened their eyes and posed with living their family members. You can see some example photos here and here.

What do you think? When I heard this story, it sounded very creepy.

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