[Nyororin]

I also hate to shoot things down, but there is a lot - in addition to the things MMM pointed out - that I don`t believe is accurate.
The prominent Christmas celebration is eating cake and fried chicken. Putting up a tree is very slowly growing in popularity - but for a random sampling, out of the 30 children in my son`s class... Only 4 are going to put up a tree this year, and only 5 plan to exchange presents.
Christmas Eve on the other hand is a day to, basically, spend a romantic evening with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

You`re right about Valentine`s day, but I would throw in a mention of the Japanese made White day, as it`s to balance Valentine`s and never would have existed without it.

Halloween is something I have never seen or heard about being celebrated outside of a) An English school or b) Some sort of cultural event. Normal people simply do not celebrate it. In fact, most people have no clue what Halloween even is. The day passed with absolutely nothing outside of the 2 locations I mentioned above. There is no trick-or-treating, etc. To say that it is celebrated is an extreme stretch. There aren`t any pumpkins out and about because people simply don`t celebrate it.

Handshaking instead of bowing? Maybe if it`s a foreign client who sticks their hand out. Try as I may, I cannot imagine two Japanese greeting each other with anything other than a bow.

To back what MMM said about honorifics and gender - even my 4 year old son, with a developmental disorder, speech acquisition disorder etc knows to change his speech depending on whether he is speaking to me or a teacher. Gender is pretty obvious in most of the speech of his classmates. Honorifics an gender specific speech are very much alive in Japan.

Katakana was a simplified form developed by monks to ease the phonetic reading of Buddhist texts in the 8th century. Nothing to do with college students scribbling notes.

More support for MMM - "kyuuto" is used maybe 1% of the time, if that. It is in no way anywhere close to replacing anything, and is most often used in conjunction with kawaii rather than in it`s place (kyuuto de kawaii). Miruku most commonly refers to powdered milk and baby formula, not to regular milk. Gyuunyuu is literally "cow milk", so when miruku is used it is referring to something else. "Cocoa miruku" for chocolate milk, etc.