Japanese people generally have a well developed appreciation for the supernatural, and while the American practice of ringing doorbells in the neighborhood to demand "trick or treat" has yet to take root, Halloween-related events continue to grow in popularity.
Seasonal parties, variously called 仮装パーティー (kasō pātī, costume party) or 仮面舞踏会 (kamen butō-kai, masquerade ball) began catching on some years ago. "Kawasaki Halloween," Japan's largest event of its kind and now in its 16th year, features a parade of 3,500 costumed participants. Weather permitting, it will have been held yesterday in front of JR Kawasaki Station.
Many amusement parks in Japan feature year-round scary attractions called お化け屋敷 (obake yashiki, haunted houses). The kanji used to write お化け (obake, ghost) is also read ka, and means change or transformation. It appears in many words such as 化学 (kagaku, chemistry), 酸化 (sanka, oxidation) or 悪化 (akka, deterioration). Although nothing to do with the supernatural, computers occasionally display 文字化け (mojibake, garbled characters).