Christmas In Japan

By the time I get around to posting this article, it might be a little late, but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Since I just got to Japan at the start of November, going home for Christmas just felt too soon. So for the first time in my life, I’m away from home for the holidays.

Now, I’ve never been the biggest Christmas fan. I usually feel that elusive Christmas spirit when I choose to engage with Christmas on my own terms. If I choose to go to a Christmas market, or watch a Christmas movie, I could get into the spirit. But if Christmas is forced upon me? That’s another story.

Coming from a family that placed a big emphasis on Christmas, there was often a Christmas tree up in the house far too early for my liking. My mom was binging Hallmark Christmas movies as early as mid November. The Christmas shopping season is usually in full swing before I even start thinking about Christmas. 

Here in Japan, Christmas has already come and gone, and the winter has felt weirdly empty in the absence of all the Christmas paraphernalia typically shoved down my throat. 

Winter here certainly has felt different than winters back home. It’s been warmer, only really dropping below freezing for a few wee hours in the early morning with no snow in sight. Although it’s not as cold outside, it certainly much colder inside than back home. This year for Christmas what I wouldn’t give for central heating. 

It took me a few weeks to figure out that most Japanese homes use the air conditioning units in their home in heating mode to warm up their houses.

This works out alright, once I learned to shut all the doors to a room to help retain the heat, but is awful in the mornings. While my room might be nice and toasty when I wake up, as soon as I open the door I might as well be outside in Canada in my underwear.

My usual routine has been to dash to the kitchen, grab some breakfast, and retreat back to my bedroom, finally braving the cold once I’ve layered up and sufficiently awoken. 

Weather aside, there hasn’t been much to really add to that holiday feeling. Japanese people don’t typically decorate their homes with lights or decorations, and there isn’t the usual office chatter of “how are you spending your holidays?” that’s become so familiar back home. Co-workers will ask about my plans for the winter vacation, but it’s more with a focus towards New Years.

Leading up to Christmas I was doing a lesson about Christmas in class. I would explain a bit around the holiday season, mostly shopping holidays, and Christmas traditions.

It felt pretty alien explaining these things to teenagers, things that had been instilled in me since I was a child. If you’d never heard the story of Santa before, the idea of a big man breaking into your home via chimney (which they don’t really have here) is ludicrous. 

My first time doing this lesson I had planned a fill in the blank activity featuring Christmas songs. This would be nice and easy for the students, who doesn’t know the words to Jingle Bells right?

Boy was I proven wrong. Not only is that song quick, if you don’t already know the words it’s pretty tough to catch. Within seconds of playing the song I had students putting their heads down on their desks. 

Safe to say, that lesson went through a few revisions. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is pretty popular here, so that ended up being my main focus.

And while I made sure to explain concepts like Stockings during my lesson, by the time those words came up in the song they’d already forgotten. I mean who cares about a big sock filled with presents if they were likely never going to receive one? 

Christmas here in Japan mainly seems aimed at couples and friends. Christmas eve is a romantic holiday for couples to spend time together and exchange romantic, intimate gifts out at a nice restaurant.

Christmas day isn’t a holiday here, so I spent it at work then went out by myself for some sushi. Other Japanese people may have held small parties with their group of friends to celebrate with some KFC. 

That’s right, KFC is the most popular meal to have on Christmas day here in Japan. Now diving into exactly why would probably involve more research than I care to do, but it’s estimated that around 3.6 million people have KFC for Christmas dinner.

I thought about trying to nab some, but this requires your order to be made months in advance. I would have had to order as soon as I landed here in Japan, and I was a little bit busy at the time. 

I haven’t done much shopping here in Japan, since who do I have to buy presents for? So the only places I’ve really heard any Christmas music is the 7-11 near my apartment and the local grocery store. 

In a weird reverse psychology kind of way, this made all those Christmas things I never cared that much about seem so special. Now I might return back home, enjoy my first year or two of Christmas, then slowly revert back to the Grinch, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

What I really might be missing is the people though. I usually try to avoid dwelling on thinking about my friends and family back home, as it’s quick to make my chest tighten.

While I’m spending most weekends here on my couch playing video games, without many friends or a community to surround myself with, all my loved ones are getting together to spend time with each other. 

Most years I have an early Orphans Christmas with my friends as we hang out, sip some drinks, and watch a movie or two.

Christmas eve is often spent with my dad’s side of the family, catching up with each other since we saw each other at the last major holiday. We round things off with a big group Christmas present exchange where we can steal highly sought after presents from one another. 

Christmas day is a lot more intimate with just my immediate family. While our Christmas mornings have become a lot more relaxed over the years, having a kid around would probably lead to some more early mornings in just a few years.

My nephew is only about a year and a half, but it would have been fun to watch him try to open a few presents before getting distracted by whatever grabbed his attention next. 

It’s been odd trying to grapple with the excitement, and loneliness of being in a new country. I’ve had some incredible experiences, like my trip to Tokyo, but I often still feel like such an outsider. Versus back home, I had family, friends, community, and Christmas at its best was a celebration of all those things.

In some ways, I’m almost glad Christmas isn’t a big to-do here in Japan, since it might have brought those feelings of missing out front and center.

On the other hand, the absence of those things makes the winter feel somewhat empty. Between that and missing out on snowboarding, the things that really make winter feel like winter are missing. 

It’s just cold, but not as cold as home. It’s a strange tango of emotions that I can’t quite pin down. Instead, I’ll turn my attention towards New Years. I look forward to experiencing the biggest holiday here in Japan. But to all back home, Merry Christmas! I love and miss you dearly.