Christmas is coming!!!!
Today, I would like to talk about Christmas traditions in Japan.
“How Japanese people celebrate Christmas”
You may think of Christmas as a family holiday because Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year in the U.S. Family gets together to celebrate, have a huge party, eat a lot of food, exchange gifts……..and of course watch football!
But Japanese people don’t celebrate exactly the same way as American people do.
I am going to talk here about my Japanese Christmas experiences and opinions. Other Japanese people may have a difference of opinions.
85-94% of the population of Japan adheres to either Buddhism or Shintoism. Today more than 70% of Japanese people would say that they have no personal religion.
For example, historically Japanese culture has been strongly influenced by Buddhism.
I was raised by strict Buddhist parents and grandparents, but it doesn’t mean I am a strict Buddhist.
While growing up in Japan I had never seen any churches or been exposed to the Christian religion. The only thing that I knew about Christmas was “it is Jesus’s birthday” and “Santa is supposed to bring me a gift”.
In Japan Christmas isn’t a national holiday, meaning we don’t get a day off from school or work.
Christmas is just another day.
Usually on the night of the 24th my family (parents, sister, brother, and I) would have dinner together and eat a cake for dessert.
Typically the type of food that we would have on Christmas eve would be, fried chicken (from KFC), sushi……etc. We would never have a whole turkey mainly because grocery stores don’t sell it, and more importantly our oven wasn’t big enough to put a whole turkey (Remember, everything is bigger in Texas, but everything is smaller in Japan!!)
In Japan cake is a really important item for Christmas!! Unlike in the U.S. Japanese people don’t eat pie or cookies for Christmas. The cake has to be a whipped cream-icing Christmas cake (Christmas is the busiest day of the year for bakeries).
Attached pictures are some examples of Christmas cake that bakeries sell in Japan.
http://sweets0141.up.seesaa.net/image/Xmascake.jpg
http://www.cafeblo.com/choco_revo/img/145/l000085113_00.jpg
At night when we were sleeping, Santa would bring us a gift and put it next to our pillows. Why next to the pillows?? Because in our house we only had a 10-inch tree and it wasn’t big enough to put presents under. Actually I didn’t even know the gifts were supposed to arrive under the tree. I always thought Santa placed gifts next to people’s pillow until I came to the U.S.
In the U.S. Santa comes to people’s houses and places gifts into stockings that are hung above mantel.
As a kid somehow I knew about this, so I used to put my socks (that I wore) next to my pillow. Santa didn't place my gift into my socks, so I realized that my socks weren’t big enough. The following year I switched my socks to my Dad’s clean underwear so Santa would be able to fit my present in :P
In the U.S. Santa comes into the house through the chimney.
Most Japanese houses don’t have chimneys. I used to ask my mother where Santa came from, and she would answer me, “From the window. We unlock the window for Santa for the night.”. Somehow this used to make sense to me……
Around 6th grade, Santa stopped bringing me presents…… my mother said, “you are old enough you don’t need presents anymore”.
Christmas is the day for kids to take an advantage of
But we still got a Christmas cake :) I told you cake is a big deal!!!!!!
When I became a high school student, Christmas became a whole different day. It was not Santa’s day anymore.
In Japan, if people have a boyfriend or girlfriend, they celebrate, eat a romantic dinner and exchange a gift. If people don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend, it is just like any other day.
It sounds like Valentine’s day, doesn’t it?
Yes, it is.
Christmas is an excuse for couples to have a romantic date in Japan!!!!!!!
In my opinion, I love Christmas in the U.S. better because Santa still brings me gifts :D
But I miss Japanese Christmas cake…….
So Matto and I decided to start a new family tradition for Christmas and we are going to make our own Christmas cake!!!!!
Our 1st Christmas cake is coming up :)
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