In Japan, Christmas is more about spreading happiness rather than recognising the religious aspects of the holiday.
Christmas Eve is a special occasion when couples spend time together and exchange presents - looking at the Christmas lights and having a meal at a restaurant are popular ways to spend the evening. Christmas Eve in Japan is often seen to as the Japanese version of Valentine's Day.
The western custom of sending and receiving Christmas cards is a tradition adopted in Japan. It is not surprising for a country that is known for its beautiful origami paper art, to have designed some of the most beautiful Christmas cards as well.
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| A selection of Japanese Christmas cards on display at Te Aka Mauri Rotorua Library, Christmas 2019 |
Tokyo Disneyland is a popular destination for families to visit during the festive season to experience a Disney-style Christmas.
Another American corporation that is associated with Christmas is KFC. Fried chicken is often eaten on Christmas Day. KFC is a popular choice, following a successful advertising campaign in the 1970s. People will preorder meals KFC weeks in advance.
A traditional Christmas food is kurisumasu keki, a Japanese Christmas cake. This sponge cake is decorated with strawberries, frosting, and whipped cream. The red, white, and circular shape shares the same symbolism as the Japanese flag - the crimson red symbolising the sun and representing a prosperous future for Japan. The white background symbolises purity, honesty and integrity of the Japanese people.
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| Japanese Christmas Cake. Source: Flickr, Attribution-NoDervis 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) |
To learn more about how Japan and other cultures celebrate Christmas visit whychristmas.com
Meri Kurisumasu!
This blog post was written by Graeme.
