Christmas, Part 1: Christmas in Japan.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! Moments of homesickness aside, I had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This is going to turn into a 3-part post, so let me just say now, for those who might be worrying: I am being taken care of very well by everyone at JELA, the JELC, and my church, and I love getting emails, letters, and cards from home. I will reply to you all eventually! It's been very busy lately, and since we're coming up on our last few weeks in Tokyo, it's only going to get busier as we cram in our last activities with people who have become near and dear.

I've received several questions about Christmas in Japan recently. Do they celebrate it here? Are there Christmas decorations around town or in people's houses?

Mosaic Street overhead Christmas
illumination in Shinjuku Station.

The answer to both those questions is both yes and no. Yes, the Japanese are aware of the existence of both Christmas and Christmas Eve as holidays of Christian origin on the 24th and 25th of December, and yes, stores and homes alike deck the halls every year. Countless "Christmas illuminations" go up around mid-November in major tourist spots like Shinjuku, Roppongi, and Ōdaiba. But here are a couple major things about Christmas in Japan you should know:

• Christmas is not a national holiday. Nothing is normally closed or on reduced hours on Christmas, and if it's a weekday it's a regular work day. Caroline and I were able to grab burgers for lunch (surrounded by office workers on their lunch break) and visit a used bookstore on Christmas.


• Christmas is almost entirely secular. According to a church friend, many Japanese believe Christmas celebrates the birth of Santa Claus. (Santa-san, by the way, visits children's houses here, too.) Many people have a Christmas tree in their home, but all the people in my church who have nativity scenes had to buy them in other countries. Christmas decorations are void of anything sacred--you'll only find Santa, reindeer, snowmen, tinsel, Christmas trees, and wreaths. I've heard sacred Christmas music played in many stores and public places, but purely for atmosphere--either with English lyrics or no lyrics at all.


• Christmas Eve is date night. Even at the Christmas Eve service at my church, girls brought their boyfriends. And on the way back home, I had to work my way through crowds of couples holding hands at the train station. Caroline told me the story of a Japanese Christian she met who took Christmas off from work to travel back to Tokyo to be with her family. Her boss understood that the holiday had religious significance to her and her family, but her coworkers thought she was taking time off to just go date.

Christmas Eve line outside KFC.
(Photo courtesy of Cindy, a member of my church.)

There are also a couple of Christmas traditions here that are entirely Japanese in origin: Christmas cake and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Japanese Christmas cake is something I think the United States should totally adopt: it's a sponge cake with whipped cream and a generous amount of strawberries and adorable Christmas-themed plastic decorations--and delicious. And the latter apparently started with a phenomenally successful advertising campaign back in the '70s when KFC began offering bargain-priced chicken and wine on Christmas for the Westerners in Japan missing their traditional Christmas feast. KFC gets so much business on Christmas Eve in Japan that they start taking reservations in early November.

Even with the option of discount fried chicken, it's a little rough on Christians, Western expats, and especially Christian expats around here to see Christmas pass with mostly commercial fanfare and no standard vacation time to be with family. The New Year is a much, much more important holiday: businesses often close for multiple days as people travel to be with families, and the post office is urging everyone to send their New Year's greetings out soon so they can be delivered on New Year's day. People stock up on special New Year's food since stores will be closed for several days, and I'm told shrines will be packed with people waiting for bells to be rung and New Year's fortune to be bestowed on them.

My "Christmas tree."

Churches around here do have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services--the latter tend to be very sparsely attended if they fall on work days--and they also have New Year's services as an alternative to shrine visits. Some couples actually attend church on Christmas Eve because it seems like the romantic thing to do--which does provide a good opportunity for outreach and at least clearing up the confusion about whose birthday we're celebrating. (Japan, the incredible love you're missing out on! It makes me sad.)

So what did I do for Christmas? It's a long story, featuring sermons (preached by yours truly), singing, parties, gifts, The Hobbit, Korean TV shows, and me embarrassing myself in public. Look for "Christmas, Part 2: Christmas Eve," coming soon to a missionary blog near you.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
John 1:10 (NIV)