A Halloween Special Sweets? No, It Is A Japanese Sweet Called Kastera!

Since tomorrow is Halloween, this sweets seems like a special sweets for Halloween, but it is a Japanese sweets called "Kasutera" which has a long history. The bat design is actually the trademark of one of the major Kasutera makers, "Fukusaya", although the orange and purple colors on the box are their new seasonal design for this Halloween season.

Then, why the "Fukusaya" is using a bat design as their trademark? Does it really have no connection with Halloween? 

As you can see in the photos, the maker started their business in 1624, which is during Samurai time, precisely Tokugawa Shogunate era (1603-1867). Although in the beginning they use one of the Chinese characters for their name, "福（Fuku）" as their trademark, 12th president of Fukusaya changed it to a bat design in the beginning of Modern era and it was still too early time for Japanese people to know about Halloween. 

However, apparently the bat design came from a foreign culture. Fukusaya's original trademark, "福（Fuku）" is a Chinese character means "Fortune/Luck" and Fukusaya had been trading with China to buy one of the main ingredients for Kasutera sweets, sugar, since the beginning. Thus the 12th president of Fukusaya got an idea of their new trademark using a symbol of fortune/luck in China. That was the bat design.

I'm sure nobody expected it in old times, but their fortune/lucky symbol got a lucky coincidence, and now the package with their trademark perfectly fits Halloween season!