Hello~!
If you didn't know, I have been living in Japan for a little over a year now and I absolutely LOVE christmas/the holiday season! In America, I know we all have our own respective religions and based on our religions, we celebrate our own style of holiday season, and the same for people who don't have a religion ^__^ But all in all most people in America celebrate the holiday season their own cool, awesome way :) I have only celebrated christmas my entire life, I do not know much about other peoples' holiday fun times, I wish I did though ^_^ feel free to comment how you celebrate your winters! I'd love to hear it!
Anyway, so how is Christmas in Japan?
1. Do they even celebrate Christmas?
Yes they do ^__^! I have asked many, MANY students why people celebrate christmas in Japan, whether they may or may not be christian. A lot of my students responded that it was from American influence, it isn't a national holiday (they kinda still have to work on christmas I heard :( but no school!) but they do acknowledge it as a special day
2. What do they eat?
Surprisingly a lot of modern families eat KFC! (again, american influence) In fact, a lot of my students asked me "you don't eat fried chicken for christmas in america?!" You need to reserve for KFC early if you want to get food! In fact KFC Japan's most profitable day is Christmas Eve :) fun fact! They also eat CHRISTMAS CAKE!!! Isn't that the best thing you've ever heard?! yes. I don't know about you guys, but in Hawaii we don't have christmas cake, there is dessert, but no specific, fancy christmas cake :( I think this needs to be changed. Some of the students I talked to said that since KFC gets too crowded and troublesome to bother to reserve, they instead buy or reserve roast chicken in other places like big department stores like Isetan, etc. ^__^
KFC Christmas Campaign page 2013
Cozy Corner Bakery Christmas Campaign Page 2013
ALSO, theres みかん(mikan) which is just little cutie tangerines which can come in sizes: small, medium, and large. which is super popular in winter time ^__^ what they do is buy a bunch of mikan and just hide under their cozy kotatsus and eat mikan ^__^ its AWESOME. trust me
also cats
3. Christmas Lights?
YES. omg. I absolutely LOVE Tokyo around this time because theres tons of "illumination parks" which are basically parks or areas where everything is decorated in christmas lights and other christmas deco :) It's absolutely stunning and beautiful and theres tons of places to go! So far my favorite places are: Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Dome. Roppongi Hills is quite big and there's so much to see! Tokyo Dome has a theme park! A lot of theme parks like Disney or Yomiuri land are also very beautiful I've heard but both are quite far for me so hehe ^_^;; (just quickly google イルミネーション and you will see so many awesome things, I promise)
Tokyo Dome
rurubu's site promoting the many illuminations all over Japan!
pretty right?
4. Christmas Characters? Songs?
Santa and Rudolph are super popular :) there are many stores like Tokyu Hands or Don Quijote that offer costumes for Santa & Rudolph, also them santa hats >w<! There even the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer song in Japanese >w<! It's so cute! Also every single store in Japan will play sooooo much christmas music. I think I've heard like 5 different versions of Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You" so far
Sign Language with BoA's Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
in Korean, Japanese, English
(i know she's kpop but i LOVE her ok)
side story: I was telling one of the families that I teach and I was telling them about how in America lots of kids put out cookies and milk for santa, and that naughty kids get coal! They were so interested that they want to try it for next year ^_^!
5. Presents?
I think so! I am not too sure because I have asked around and half of my students said yes, but the other half said no. (but there are TONS of christmas specials and sales in like every mall hehe)
Here is an interested thread I found from japantoday: You can read many peoples (who live in japan) perspectives on christmas :) It's a very interesting read!
6. Lucky Bags (Happy Bags!) / 福袋 (fukubukuro)
Spend a lot of money and get some free stuff! Yeah I know, we have these in America too, but I think the ones in Japan are a bit more worth it to spend money on >w<! There's actually TONS of great sales around christmas and new years. but we'll get to the new years ones on another post ^_^
7. Anything Else?
Hmmm, what I find kind of strange about Japan's christmas is that it is very couple-focused. So many of my japanese friends and students were telling me that christmas is no fun if you're single..but I told them that in America, christmas is mainly focused for family/loved ones and about being with the people you love whether it is family, friends, etc.~ And they thought that was weird..So it's more couple focused, that's pretty interesting I guess.
How will you celebrate your Christmas ^_^/Winter Holidays ^_^?
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