Today’s topic is Christmas in Japan since it’s the December 25th. 
Christmas in Japan is quite different from the Chrismas in the US where the population has a large percentage of Christians or a Christian heritage. Only 1/2 of 1% of the Japanese population claims to be Christian.
December 25th is not a national holiday in Japan, although December 23rd, which is the birthdate of the current emperor, is.
Simply put, Christmas is a bit closer to the Western concept of St.Valentine’s Day. The Japanese media hypes Christmas Eve as being a time for romantic miracles. It is promoted as a time to be spent with one’s boyfriend or girlfriend in a romantic setting. Fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid at this time because of the hype. It is often also a time when girls get to reveal their affections to boys, and vice versa. Because of this, extending a girl an invitation to be together on Christmas Eve has very deep, romantic implications among Japanese singles.
Here is this year’s example of Yahoo Japan Christmas 2005 web site. It gives you a glimpse of how Christmas is like in Japan:
#1 = “Love Story that begins from Christmas”
#2 = “I don’t want ‘Lonely Christmas Eve’!” “Strategies for meeting your dream man”
Now, here is another screenshot:
The title (loosely translated): “Hotel you would want to stay on Christmas Eve: Special place for your significant other”
Yet another shot:
#1 = “Love gift for your girlfriend”
#2 = “Love gift for your boyfriend”
#3 = “Happy Christmas at home”
People exchange Christmas presents with their significant others as well as close friends. The presents tend to be ‘cute’ presents and often include Teddy Bears, flowers, scarves, rings and other jewelry. Christmas presents tend to be expensive and fancy because of the significance of the person they are spending the Eve night with.
They do give more obligatory year-end presents during this season as well, and they are often for people who have done you a favor during the year. They give that type of gifts to bosses, teachers, and family friends. They are called ‘Oseibo’ and are generally things which are perishable and also things they can check price easily, because they are in the context of the “on and giri” system (loosely translated as “obligation and reciprocity”). Recipients of such gifts check the price and return something that is equivalent of what they received.
The traditional Japanese christmas food is the “Christmas cake.”
It is usually made of sponge cake, strawberries and whipped cream. Majority of Japanese families celebrate Christmas with a cake.
Stores carry many different versions of this Christmas cake and drop their prices drastically on December 25th in order to sell everything out by the 26th. This has resulted in a rather interesting expression in which young girls are referred to as a ‘Christmas cakes’: Young, attractive and marriageable until their 25th birthday but once past that deadline “heavy discounts” are required to get married.
American style Christmas lighting has made it to Japan, and it’s called “Illumination” in Japan.
The New Year’s holidays, which constitute the main holiday season for the Japanese, come closer to the American-European idea of assembling family and friends. Everything shuts down on the New Year’s Day, and people spend time with their family members.
Well, that’s probably more than enough mundane Japanese trivia for the day.
Merry Christmas!
