Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnBraden
Would Christmas in Japan qualify as part of this phenomenon? The only two Christmases in was in Japan were up in northern Tohoku and both times I actually flew missions on those days (24th and 25th). In rural Tohoku I didn't get to see much there. But what I've seen in photos and people's blogs, the whole Christmas season in Japan is entirely blown out of proportion with commercialism. I do understand the whole religious aspect may be missing there, but "importing" a holiday celebration for its commercialism has to rank pretty high on the list of commercial 'oddities' this country has.
|
in my opinion
Christmas never had a strong cultural/religious meaning in Japan to begin with.
I imagine that part of why it was "imported" was due to commercialism, but I think a larger part of it was due to a fascination with the west, more specifically America, which persists to this day.
I can't really think of any Japanese holidays that used to have meaning but are now just shopping days.
But
There are tonnes of holidays in Japan and most people just consider them days off, and if you ask them why that day is a holiday, they won't know most of the time.
A lot of those days I don't feel were ever important.
Golden week is famous in Japan, but try asking people here what holidays make up the days off in golden week and you'll be surprised how few know!