Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The importance of Christmas in Japan



Christmas is coming soon. The whole town is decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments. I decorated a big Christmas tree at my place.

Today, I would like to talk about Japanese Christmas.
Most Japanese are not Christian, but everyone celebrates Christmas. Because Japan does not celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas decoration and sales start very early, right after Halloween.
They have the same concept in that Santa is coming to give presents to children. But how they celebrate Christmas is totally different from the US.
I think, American people spend Christmas with their family. And some people go to church. On the other hand, Japanese people spend Christmas with their lovers. Therefore, before Christmas, single people desperate to look for their partner. If they do not have a lover, they get together with their friends and have a party.
Japanese people want to go to classy restaurants and eat stake, or have fried chicken at the party. Seriously, Kentucky Fried Chicken is very busy on Christmas.

After Christmas, Japanese next become Buddhists. They go to a temple or shrine on New Year's. I will talk about it later. But isn't it funny?

3 comments:

  1. What an interesting way to celebrate Christmas!

    I like how Japanese people spend Christmas with their lovers. And it is amusing that after Christmas, Japanese become Buddhists.

    You write very well and with good details. Thank you!

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  2. Thanks, Paul.
    I am grad you enjoyed my post. I will write about Japanese New Year's.
    Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

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  3. Have a very merry Christmas, Mizuho!

    ReplyDelete