Christmas in Japan might be hard to distinguish from the USA especially if you visit the malls and other shopping districts where carols, posh and pompadour decorations, and the ostentatious display of twinkling lights rival anything you'll find in Manhattan Square, New York, I'm told.
If nothing else, Japanese love pageantry of every kind, so the Christmas season merely provides them the perfect excuse to release their inner, pent up child in honor of this annual worldwide celebration. The festive spirit seems to grow each year.
Ironically, December 25 is not a national holiday in Japan, so while young couples will be filling up the hotels on Christmas Eve (we hope, anyway) they are due back to the office bright and early the next morning which does seem to throw a wet blanket on the occasion if you ask me.
Somehow they manage.
Lets we forget, though, Japan is not a Christian nation, and therefore has no direct cultural links to the birth of Jesus Christ which in some ways seems counterintuitive given the amount of attention paid to the occasion here. As in the USA, perhaps the real credit goes to the retailers for creating much of the holiday buzz people undoubtedly enjoy.
Some Japanese do, however, have artificial Christmas trees in their home, exchange token gifts, and greet each other with "Merry Christmas" on Christmas Day, but this tradition is not widely practiced.
More ordinary is people gearing up for the annual “bonnenkai” or year-end celebration which is sort of a mix-combo of Christmas and New Years shindig rolled into one.
Bonnenkai is perhaps the only time of the year where Japanese people can truly “let down their hair” especially in the presence of the boss, who is just as likely to be as drunk as you are.
What better way to end the year than throwing up on your boss!
Merry Christmas From Osaka.
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