Cultural stumble

That was kind of interesting. Last evening we had dinner with a Japanese postdoc who works fairly hard on his English. While we were talking, he admitted to being puzzled about the difference between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Mitsuko (my wife) and I took a moment or two to catch on, and then double-checked. Sure enough, he thought they were the same holiday. And he was fairly sure that other Japanese also thought they were the same.
( A short summary of the difference as I understand it )

Interesting confusion. Both are in the fall, and both involve corn and pumpkins. From living in America, they are distinctly different. But from a distance, somehow they got merged.