Christmas and New Year's in Japan

This Christmas and New Years I'll be spending time with some relatives in and near Tokyo. My grandmother's cousin's son and wife (Koki and Kazue, who took me to Mt. Aso earlier this year) will be having me over to their place in Tokyo on Christmas day and for a few days after. Then, the 3 of us will go to Koki's father's house in Saitama prefecture, about an hour and a half by train from where Koki and Kazue live in Tokyo. At Koki's dad's house, I will be able to see a few other relatives as well. On New Year's Day we will visit a famous shrine in Tokyo. And somewhere in these 10 days of vacation I have, my relatives and I will travel together to a ski resort - where I am lucky enough to go snowboarding on a mountain in Japan! This is the first winter vacation I have spent away from my immediate family (the Meuse 5). But, this is also the first time anyone in my family has spent these holidays with our Japanese relatives. I am happy to be keeping our family connection going, but I am more immediately excited to eat lots of their food, get to know them better, and check out New Year's in Japan. I've heard it's the biggest holiday celebrated in Japan.

Christmas, however, is a different story. Though I've seen lots of Christmas decorations hung up in department stores (which I spotted even before Thanksgiving!) - and it's hard to walk into any store lately and not hear Christmas music, or flip on the TV and not see some sort of ad with a Christmas jingle, I've seen very little religious connection to the holiday. I asked one of my co-teachers if Japanese people celebrated Christmas, and he told me that on December 24th families and couples get together to have food and drinks. Also, one of my new friends here, who has spent 3+ previous years living in Japan, told me that Christmas here is more like a couples' holiday, while New Year's is more about family time. And, I've asked students a few times now during a warm-up activity, "What date is Christmas?" - and more often than not I've gotten the answer "December 24th." I understand that to expect a largely non-Christian nation to be celebrating a traditional Christian holiday wouldn't make much sense, but it's funny to me to see so many Christmas decorations and hear so many Christmas songs (including ones sung by students) while the true meaning behind the holiday seems to go largely unnoticed. Though I can't speak for all of Japan, and I'm sure there really are lots of Japanese people do celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday, I think this generalization more or less holds true for most of Japan.

Well I wish everyone reading this a Merry, Merry Christmas, and a Happy, Happy New Year. And for all who are enjoying plenty of holiday sweets, I leave you with this picture, taken at the local "Trial Supercenter..."

Asparagus Biscuits anyone?