My First Christmas in Japan

This past Christmas was the first time in my life I spent Christmas away from my family, and I must say, not being with your family for Christmas really sucks the spirit out of the holiday. Family is what the holiday is all about after all. However, there were some things that helped get me through the time and new things I could experience by not going home.

My family sent me huge box full with presents for each day of the month. I got to open one present a day until Christmas. It was so awesome and meant so much to me! My family also video called me on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. J Besides those things, I coped by doing several things on my own like decorating my apartment, watching Christmas movies, listening to Christmas radio on iTunes constantly, and eating copious amounts Lindt chocolate truffles.

A box of joy!

My Christmas tree. :)

At work, I gave presentations about Christmas in every class which got me in the spirit a little. I also made cards for and received cards from many of my students. On actual Christmas Day, I taught my English night class of adults, and we played Christmas games, had snacks, and did a gift exchange which was nice.

Cards from my kids.

Since I actually got to stay in Japan throughout the entirety of Christmas, I learned a few things. First, as you may have seen in one of my recent posts, I got to see and experience just how popular winter illuminations are. I learned that Santa costumes are also extremely popular, especially on Christmas Day. Basically everywhere you go, on the street and even in the supermarket, you see people in Santa costumes, men and women. Since Christmas is a couples’ day in Japan, there are a lot of sexy Santa costumes available for women, too. Lol. I actually heard a story from my Japanese pen pal that once he ordered pizza for delivery on Christmas, and the delivery man showed up at his door in a Santa costume. They took a picture together haha! So, I thought I’d join in the Japanese style festivities and wear my own Santa costume on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Random Santa bikers.

Joining in the fun. Haha!

On to the main part of Christmas in Japan, as I just mentioned, it’s a couples’ day. Think like a Christmas themed Valentine’s Day…with cake. Before I get in to that, I should mention that Japanese families (usually ones with younger children) sometimes have small celebrations on Christmas Day in which they eat fried chicken (KFC being most famous) and cake. Santa also may come, but he leaves only one present per child and puts it by their bed, not under the tree.

Back to the main part though, first and foremost Christmas in Japan is a day for lovers to go on expensive dates, exchange gifts, and possibly stay at a hotel together. That is the most traditional way I suppose, but basically the main point is for couples to spend time alone together whether it’s going out for dinner, seeing a movie, etc. Since I have a Japanese boyfriend, I got to experience the real Japanese Christmas. However, since Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, normal people have to work (I was on Christmas vacation, however, since I’m a teacher). Therefore, Shinya had no idea how late he would have to work, so we couldn’t make a dinner reservation. Instead, we decided to have a date at home. Luckily, he ended up getting off of work pretty early.

I made an Italian style dinner consisting of seafood arrabbiata pasta, garlic toast, and salad. After dinner we exchanged presents and ate Christmas cake which was really fun. I got him random stuff like clothes, and itunes card, and chocolate, and he got me a nice bath set from the Body Shop. The cake was really delicious. Usually you preorder them, which is what I did. I picked a raspberry sauce one even though strawberry and whipped cream cakes are more popular. The cake was so pretty! There were two whole raspberries hidden inside. We each got one. Overall, it was a fun, romantic night, and I’m glad I could experience it. I hope you all had a nice holiday season!

My nice bath set from Shinya.

Christmas cake!