Meri Kurisumasu

Well, it’s nearing Christmastime for everyone around the globe, and Japan’s no different! While they still put up the lights and give gifts and think about Santa, there are a few differences at least. Christmas is all in all a completely commercial holiday – less than 1% of the population is Christian, so that ‘birth of Jesus’ thing isn’t mentioned at all. It’s just a consumer-led holiday over here.

One thing that completely didn’t make any sense to anyone over here is: Americans don’t eat Christmas cakes! At all! What the heck!?!? Yes, here in Japan they sell Christmas cakes, which are basically cakes with white icing and strawberries on top. There’s a rush to buy them before Christmas, and after Christmas the unsold ones get tossed. Weird. Also, KFC (a pretty big chain over here) has convinced Japan that fried chicken dinners are the way to go on Christmas Eve. So, it’s also super-surprising that Americans don’t have fried chicken on Christmas Eve.

While most of us back home tend to see Christmas as a time to spend with family and friends, here it’s more of a romantic holiday, kind of like Valentine’s Day in the states. In a weird tie-in to the Christmas cakes, once a woman is past 25 and doesn’t have a boyfriend/husband, she’s considered an ‘old cake.’ (Just like if a cake’s around past December 25^th…)

I myself am not doing much on Christmas. (Well, besides feeling really homesick. I would have gone home but, honestly, a one-way ticket bought even a month in advance would have been about the cost of one month’s salary.) I have taught a few Christmas lessons and made my classes sing a few Christmas carols, and today I went to the kindergarten and dressed up as Santa. The costume was hilariously small on me and I wore the flimsiest beard ever but the kids loved it. They get cuter the tinier they get, I swear.

But in any case, the real reason for celebration around this time of year for me is two weeks off from work – the last week of December and the first week of January. Those are going to be quite welcome. I plan to relax and maybe travel around a bit in Kyoto, Tokyo and Omiya. Perhaps then I will have more stories to tell? The only entertainment I’ve been up to is last weekend, going to Kumagaya where my friends Erinn and Rebecca teach, and hitting the town. And by that I mean we did karaoke for hours and I sang Toto and David Bowie and Metallica and gosh it was fun.

Well, Merry Christmas to everyone out there! Hope your holidays are eventful and fun and safe. Sayonara!

(sidenote: my Japanese has not become any better. I’m terrible at this immersion thing.)