A very Japanese Christmas

By E H Fields

On the surface, Christmas in Japan seems very much like Christmas back home; from the gross commercialism to the fat guy dressed like a can a coke. A walk around town doesn’t raise too many suspicions that Christmas is going to be any different.

My first Christmas day in Japan I spent at work with pangs of homesickness rumbling in my belly and a powerful urge to get drunk. To add to things, my brain donor of a boss was climbing the walls because the embassies he had planned to visit that day were on holiday. No matter of explaining could satisfy the deep feeling sense of injustice harbored by the angry 6-year-old boy trapped in the body of a 60-year-old man that he was. “But, this is Japan,” he growled at regular intervals throughout the afternoon.

Just like everywhere else, Christmas in Japan is a marathon. It starts a few weeks before Halloween and slowly gathers pace as the days get shorter and colder. People rush around making sure that they’ve got the food in for the big meal – which in Japan means reserving a bucket of fried chicken down to the very hour you are going to go to the store and pick it up. Try walking in off the street to buy a combo meal when the Colonel’s lot are at their busiest; the shocked “Don’t you know it’s Christmas” look you’ll get from the staff are truly priceless. And let’s not forget cake: Where would Christmas be without a delicious sponge cake topped with flavorless, out-of-season strawberries?

Whereas back home, Christmas tends to be thought of as a time for family, the supposed “romance” of Christmas is given heavy play in Japan. Now personally, I am entirely in favor of this widely accepted belief that associates a large, bearded white bloke with romance but that is another story. What amuses me is this romantic notion of Christmas that manifests itself in girls expecting expensive presents from their boyfriends.

One recent piece of research in fashion magazine revealed two interesting points; on average, girls expected their boyfriends to spend five times as much on buying them a present than they were going to spend on their boyfriends and nearly 60% of girls were not planning to buy their boyfriends a present. To me that’s just brilliant. Why stop at five times more? Let’s push the boat out; I’m prepared to spend a hundred times more especially if I’m getting nothing in return. Is it time to start worrying about the standard of mathematics education in Japanese schools? Or should we just keep quiet because it’ll cost us more in the long run?

But more than anything else, what really surprised me on my first few Christmases in this country was the fact that Christmas Day is nothing more than an afterthought – like going to sleep on Christmas Eve and waking up on Boxing Day, Christmas Day is a huge anti-climax.

For some inexplicable reason, the annual “All-Japan Christmas Marathon” finishes outside of the stadium; there’s no standing ovation and no victory lap because everything gets tidied away until next year before the big day arrives.

In Japan, Christmas Eve is king. That’s when all the food is eaten and presents given and not the day after. Come midnight on the 24th and all the Christmas bunting is taken down in the shops and replaced by New Year displays. Given that Japan does not have a significantly large Christian community, perhaps this is not surprising and nobody can really expect the country that invented White Day (you’ll have to wait until March 14 for that) to pass up on an opportunity to sell some more stuff to the unsuspecting public.

So to everyone, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve, and lads don’t be stingy, eh!

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Latest 15 of 53 Total Comments Show All

herefornow at 05:10 PM JST - 22nd December

UnagiDon -- or, those supposed "whiners" are the only ones actually capable of seeing Japan for what it really is, and don't have to try to say that it is special or different -- because they aren't stuck here teaching English for minimum wage, and therefore have to rationalize their life. And, Christmas is a perfect example of that. All you folks are saying how great it is to: have to make a dinner reservation, book and pay for a hotel room, and buy an expensive present -- just to have sex. That's not Christmas, or even romance. It's simply meeting Japanese girl's expectations, because otherwise, they won't put out. If that is what makes Christmas in Japan special -- something to be celebrated -- I'll pass. Real people, in real relationships, don't need that kind of phony crap, wrapped around Christmas, in order to enjoy a physical relationship. But, then again, Japanese couples have like the lowest rate of sex in the world -- like 43 times a year -- so maybe they must invent an excuse to get passionate. If that's something to celebrate in your mind, then go for it.
Philosophy187 at 08:52 PM JST - 22nd December

A very Japanese Christmas: This Myth is Western not Eastern. East just copies because of boredom and lack of imagination. There is not such animal.
sydenham at 11:41 PM JST - 22nd December

herefornow-- firstly, have you actually experienced this "Christmas hotel booking for sex" thing or are you just going by the sensationalist rumors? I have been here for 11 years and not yet met one Japanese or foreign person who has had this experience...not a one. secondly, none of the foreigners I know who have been here the length of time i have make minimum wage. that's why they're still here. i think you're referring more to the kind of people who come here for short periods of time.

Seriously, if you're going to write a comment, or commentary like mr. Fields above, I have just 2 requests: 1) base it on more than just rumor, false stereotypes or trashy magazine fiction, 2) be informative, and tell us something new. I don't like to read the same articles year after year, just by different writers. indeed, it seems like people have forgotten the origin of the word "news."
stipend at 02:27 AM JST - 23rd December

Well I'm here, for now, and I think everybody is.. "special" It's that time of year :-) And everybody's Christmas can be special too ;-)

My first few years here it was bizarre but that's the beauty of it. It is a challenge. To look at Christmas in a completely different light. In NA you almost can't. People would think you had rocks in your head. If Christmas has been stolen it's by the marketing machine over there which switches into super-hyper-drive. It's mind control. Wasn't Boxing Day a holiday at one time? A quiet day of rest? Turkey sandwiches? Kicking back with kin? Now most of my family SKATTERS! to overcrowded malls. And I have to go there if I want to spend time with them.
herefornow at 07:36 AM JST - 23rd December

sydenham -- You must not get out much, or maybe I just hit too close to home. I was speaking to a friend and business colleague just yesterday about this very subject. He has been involved with a Japanese gal for many years, but normally returns home every year for Christmas. Every year, without fail, this causes a huge rift with his gal, because he is not here to "celebrate" Christmas eve with the dinner and hotel deal. But, if you think all this is "stereotype" as you say, why don't you pick up the phone right now and call any decent hotel and see if you can get a room for Wednesday night, or any good restaurant? They'll laugh at you. Sorry, but "sensationalist rumors" don't last 11 years. This is Christmas in Japan, whether you like it or not, and all the pretty lights they put up doesn't mask that fact. It is all superficial and materialistic, like much of this wonderful society you seem so much in love with. Or just stuck with. So, if you are going to post, my one request for you is to be objective and really look at what goes on here, not the Yokoso Japan version of this country.
stipend at 01:22 PM JST - 23rd December

herefornow says Christmas is superficial and materialistic. Why cry? Make it the day you want it to be. Some people do cos-play, some like hotels. So what?

I once paid a fortune for, and fought hoards of women for one of the last Christmas cakes here one Christmas Eve on the way to meet my date. I'm glad to have had that experience but never again! There was so much Christmas junk stuck into the top of that thing.. Santa, elves, part of a house..

It's evolving, always has been. Before it was the outrageously expensive dinner shows. Now not so much. Love hotels used to be seedy and tacky and that's mostly changed. For the young, as far as I can tell, it's always been about the date. Maybe this says something about sydenham's age (?) or maybe the outstanding people he's hanging out with.

At any rate, may peace be yours.
Seiharinokaze at 02:49 PM JST - 23rd December

Christmas Eve is mostly an occasion for some young people still enthused in shallow dreams and libidos to date and mate and for children to have fun and eat cakes. For others in general, "Merry Christmas" sounds simply out of place and even silly at this busiest time of the year, though the melody of Jingle Bells was being played on the street this year with lyrics that promote sales of the year-end jumbo lottery.

Sorry to say the real big day is not coming on 25th over here. Christmas Eve is not king either. Standing ovation or victory lap or whatever is reserved for the Watch Night bell ringing to let the old year pass away and subsequent New Year visit to a shrine or temple. The feelings we have on Omisoka or the last day of the year might be comparable to what people in the West or Christendom feel on what Mr. Fields call the big day.
sydenham at 05:49 PM JST - 23rd December

herefornow-

Commercialism and materialism are rampant everywhere. I learned that lesson in grade school. It's nothing new. Get over it. I'm 37, married with 2 kids and happy living in Japan. Stranger things have happened. Your friend's girlfriend is superficial. Plenty of my ex-girlfriends in both Canada and Japan were superficial too. I didn't marry them. Your friend needs a new GF.

Japanese who stay at hotels on Xmas eve are a minute fraction of the overall population, and only confirm the fact that in Japan, as in every other country in the world, there are materialistic, superficial people. Again, this is something you and Mr. Fields above need to get over, and not make more out of than it really is. Of course, you only really need to get over it if you want to stop focussing on the negative and make the most of your life. It's a choice everyone has to make in their life. That's another lesson I learned a long time ago.

Enjoy Christmas, and enjoy Christmas in Japan. Lots of us do. There's no reason you can't too.
OhioDonna at 12:37 AM JST - 24th December

Interesting comments! Merry Christmas to all.
Ranger_Miffy at 12:36 PM JST - 24th December

Maybe next year I'll be lucky enough to enjoy X'MAS the Japanese way...Hoping hoping hoping so! :-D Merry Christmas everyone.
jhk at 01:39 PM JST - 24th December

Christmas is undeniably about the birth of Christ. Christ is a symbol of many heroic things, and all the characteristics that go with them.
cleo at 01:41 PM JST - 24th December

Nah, it's a celebration of life in the midst of winter.
DerekJ at 07:55 AM JST - 25th December

Funny, I just finished reading this article last night and this morning I got a cell phone email from my fiancee with a picture of the homemade chicken meal she was electronically offering me. Cute....I had nice chuckle and was reminded of just why I love that dear Japanese heart of hers. Merry Christmas, everyone!
Himajin at 11:25 PM JST - 26th December

Hahahaaa, I love the comments on Christmas being materialistic in Japan, my sides are aching...American Christmas ISN'T!? Parents getting into scuffles to buy one of THE toy the kids just have to have every year, none of you saw that diamond commercial originating in the US where men who gave their wives the wrong presents (not diamonds)were condemned to a limbo-like 'dog house'?

Japanese Christmas customs come from Europe, presents being opened on the 24th, and cake being eaten. As most homes don't have ovens, and oven cooking is not prevalent in the average Japanese home, it's fried chicken and not roast chicken, and turkey has never been a part of the culture. Why'd you leave home, if you can't stand things being different?

Anyone I said Merry Christmas to this week has been pleased,lots of smiles as the greeting is returned. Haven't been bitten once.
UnagiDon at 02:14 AM JST - 28th December

herefornow;

UnagiDon -- or, those supposed "whiners" are the only ones actually capable of seeing Japan for what it really is, and don't have to try to say that it is special or different

Thank you for illustrating the point I was trying to make.

Seeing Japan through rose-coloured glasses is bad, seeing Japan through crap-cloured glasses and pretending that you have some superior insight is way worse.