Christmas in Japan

[Sangetsu]

It has been more than 5 years since I came to Japan, and I have just celebrated my fifth Christmas here. It was a nice holiday, and I received a couple of great gifts.

For many years, Christmas in Japan has been mainly a couple's holiday, more like Valentine's day. Younger couples like to spend Christmas Eve together, going out to see the various illumination spots around town, and enjoying dinner at a restaurant, or at home. Few people like to spend Christmas Eve alone.

But Christmas is slowly changing into the western version of the holiday. More and more children are being told stories about Santa Claus, and are receiving gifts on Christmas morning. This is mainly for the youngest children. As Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, schools are open, so older children much open their presents before they leave for school.

Christmas trees are becoming more and more popular, though these trees are usually plastic contraptions that are reused year after year. Natural Christmas trees are rare, mainly because the types of trees used as Christmas trees are not grown in Japan. You can buy imported trees, but these are expensive. I love the smell of a real Christmas tree, but it cost 40000 yen, or about $400. I forgot to consider how to get rid of the tree after the holidays, one simply can't set the tree by the curb and expect the garbage collectors to take it. I will have to cut into small pieces, put them in bags, and put these bags out with the burnable trash.

In Tokyo the city is lit up for the holidays. Both Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo Sky Tree have special lighting for Christmas, and many parts of the city have spectacular lighting. The best places to see this year are Marunouchi, and Roppongi Hills. Tokyo Station has an incredible high-tech light show which is playing from Christmas Eve until New Year's day. The only problem with these displays is that they are very crowded. Still, they are a lot of fun, and if you are visiting Tokyo in the holiday season, you should try to see these displays. The new Kitte (kitte means postal stamp) post office building in Marunouchi has the most spectacular Christmas tree.

Lastly, "Merry Christmas" is a popular greeting here in the holiday season, though very few Japanese are Christians, they don't mind using the word "Christmas". There are no "Happy Holdays" cards, only cards for Christmas and New Year's Day. The Japanese have a difficult time understanding the contraversy that happens every year in the west involving the words "Christmas" and "Happy Holidays", they think it is nonsense, and I agree.

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas, or whatever you prefer to call it, and that you have good plans for the New Year.