Christmas, New Years, St. Valentine's Day and White Day in Japan

Hi!

Let me catch you up on Christmas and New Years in Japan and then I will tell you about Valentine's Day and the very special Japanese holiday, White Day!

Christmas in Japan is quite different than it is in the US for many reasons. First, it's a secular holiday - it's a working business day as usual, which isn't a huge surprise since only about 1% of the population here is Christian. I've been told Christmas Eve and Christmas Night are big date nights for couples, like Valentine's Day is in America (and here in Japan). It is also a popular day to get married here. The biggest tradition the Japanese have for celebrating Christmas is they buy a big bucket of KFC, yes, I'm talking about good ol' Kentucky Fried Chicken, for dinner. You think I'm joking? I'm not! KFC has done some amazing magical marketing here and convinced the Japanese that this is something that Americans do on Christmas! They even dress the fiberglass statue of Colonel Sanders up in a Santa Claus costume! There are lines for blocks of people waiting to buy their bucket of extra crispy on Christmas afternoon. For dessert, the Japanese celebrate by eating Christmas Cake. This is usually a sponge-cake with a light, whipped cream frosting (nothing like the incredibly sweet stuff in the US) with strawberries on top. The strawberries is what makes it Christmas Cake, as it wouldn't be a Christmas Cake without them.

The three Js and Santa

While I personally really get a kick out of the Japanese Christmas traditions (not to mention, I love me some KFC!), we decided to keep our Christmas traditions as close to the ones in the US as we could this year.

It started on Christmas Eve when Joe took a half day off of work and we picked up the boys from school to go see Santa. Santa was incredibly hard to find this year. He only made a few appearances here, unlike in America where he is in every mall all day, every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, but we tracked him down nonetheless! We found him at a nice hotel on the other side of the city. I knew we had to get there early to avoid having to wait in line, but for once in Japan (ever!) we were able to see Santa without waiting. Jackson was so excited to see Mr. Claus and to tell him that he wanted a watch, a book with a fire truck, and a guitar. Jacob didn't want to tell him anything, even though he wanted the same (exact) things that Jackson wanted and also a shinkansen.

After visiting Santa and a walk around the neighborhood, we went to an all-Japanese Christmas Eve Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral. The wonderful thing about Catholic Mass is you always know what's going on no matter what language they are speaking. We really enjoyed it, along with probably around 2,000-3,000 other people. We even sang, or should I say, hummed a few Christmas songs! After church, we went back to the hotel where we saw Santa and enjoyed a delicious buffet of Japanese foods as well as Western foods.

St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo

The inside of the cathedral... Yes, those are concrete walls!

On Christmas morning, we all felt so much joy; Jackson and Jacob unwrapping their presents and playing with their toys and Joe and I watching them. In the afternoon, we were hosting 13 people at our house for a traditional American Christmas dinner so I got to work in the kitchen. Everything came together and we all had such a fantastic time. It was a few of our friends' first-ever Christmas celebration so it had to be extra special. Santa even dropped off stockings at our house for our guests! For our first-ever Christmas in Japan, it was one we will never forget.

J&J checking out their new police station

Jackson playing his new guitar

Most of our Christmas guests

Soba noodles with shrimp tempura on top

A week later, we celebrated New Years Eve and Day. New Years Day, shogatsu, is the most important holiday in Japan and it is celebrated like how we celebrate Christmas in the US - with family, food, and rest. Most businesses across the nation are closed from January 1st through the 3rd and very special food is prepared and eaten. One of my Japanese friends, Tomomi, cooked for us! It was amazing to see how each food is prepared and what the particular food stands for. Each food that you eat, signifies something in the new year. For instance, she made us soba noodles on New Years Eve, symbolizing longevity. She also taught us that the Japanese have another, more modern, tradition on New Years Eve and that is watching a television program, called "kohaku uta gassen" featuring Japan's most famous actors and actresses, television personalities, singers and "J-pop" bands. We turned it on and I could see why! Our friends pointed out all the celebrities on the show and the music was so entertaining!

Jackson and Jacob are enjoying the food!

A famous Japanese celebrity on kohaku uta gassen

Lots of celebs on the show!

Tomomi was really getting into it!

The show ended around 11:30pm so that everyone could go to the nearest Buddhist Temple. At midnight at every temple, a bell is rung 108 times, once for each of the 108 Buddhist sins. It is customary to go to three temples before returning home. The Japanese believe that New Years Day is best started by seeing the sun rise and then perhaps going to a Shinto Shrine and enjoying the rest of the day by relaxing and eating more delicious food. (I remember the tour guide on one of my beloved bus tours of Tokyo in August 2013 saying that of the approximately 7 million visitors Meiji Jingu, the biggest Shinto Shrine in Tokyo, gets all year, about half of those people visit in the first week of the year.)

We didn't visit any temples or shrines, my friend said it is difficult to do with small children, but we did relax and eat more amazing food on New Years Day. Tomomi made for us, osechi. Osechi is a beautiful box or boxes, called jubako, full of many different kinds of small Japanese foods, each with a special meaning for the new year. Our friends were gracious enough to bring over a book that described the significance of eating each food. I can't remember them all but I've described the ones I can in the pictures below. Besides being beautiful, all the food was so delicious! We also had sweet beans and mochi (pounded glutinous rice) for dessert. Thank you again, Tomomi! We had a wonderful time spending this special holiday with friends and (mostly) following Japanese tradition.

Our New Year's Day feast, Osechi

At the top: lotus root = enabling you to look through to the future
Below: fish = promotion at work

Shrimp (aren't these the biggest shrimp ever?!) = you will have a
long life until you get the curved back

Top middle: sweet chestnuts = wealth
Bottom middle: red and white (for Japan's signature colors)
kamaboko, which is kind of like a fish loaf, I guess? = good luck
Bottom right: black beans = enabling you to be healthy enough
to work hard at your job

Now on to Valentine's Day... Right after the New Years holiday, Valentine's Day or St. Valentine's Day, as it is typically referred to here, decorations, chocolates, and advertisements for special dinner sets starting showing up in all of the stores and restaurants. Valentine's Day here is another secular holiday like Christmas is, but a very big date night for couples, like it is in the US. A huge difference in the way the Japanese celebrate St. Valentine's Day though is that the women give their men chocolates and in return, they get... wait for it... Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. I know, right?! I was outraged, too, until I learned about the very special Japanese holiday, known as, White Day.

White Day, celebrated on March 14th, is a holiday in which women are celebrated. This is the day the men give gifts such as chocolates, flowers, and jewelry to the special ladies in their lives. I will let you know if White Day is all it's cracked up to be! ***Update: the value of the White Day gift is supposed to be three times as much as the gift the man received on Valentine's Day!***

I am having the time of my life learning about all of these Japanese customs and traditions and in turn, being able to share our American and Christian ones with my friends here.

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.

XOL