[AmericanInTokyo]

You can enjoy in full my 2007 photos, and later 2009 photos to be added soon, by simply sledding over the snow to the URL link above at Flickr. They are under "politicallyincorrectinjapan".

These photos were all taken within the last two weeks of December 2007 here in the Tokyo, Japan area. Please enjoy and also think about how we, many of us in the overwhelming majority, can more fully get our Christmas back in the public social domain in America.

Another short piece could have been written about the various Japan subsidiaries of mainline US consumer product companies, fast food outlets, coffee shops, etc. operating in Japan, which do not shy away from "Merry Christmas" in their marketing and branding, and yet their headquarters in the US have a strict policy of "Happy Holidays" within the borders of a country containing considerably many, many more believing Christians than in Japan (0.7%)--our very own United States of America. I do wonder what kind of post-legal huddle corporate PR letter they might promulgate in response to THAT observation, and said request that they "Liberate Christmas" in the US since they assent to Christmas widely in Japan.

[PGR88]

Same in China! I don’t think anyone knows the Christian % in China, but regardless, the (mostly urban) people I meet all recognize Christmas.

[EverOnward]

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Pinging all! Back by popular demand. ;-)

[elcid1970]

I was an American kid in Japan in 1956-58. The `shopping centers’ were full of Christmas ornaments and the most wonderful toys in the entire world. Japanese love children and it was obvious; everywhere there were bespectacled Santas who looked more like Hirohito than old Saint Nick.

It was later that I learned about Pearl Harbor.

Ironic that Japan is more Christmas friendly than some regions in America. However I live in the South; where “Merry Christmas!” is like saying, “You got a problem with that?”

[SpaceBar]

Merry Christmas to you too AIT.

[SeeSharp]

FYI: The epicenter of Japanese Catholicism has always been the city of Nagasaki. One quarter of all Japanese Christians died when that city was bombed in 1945.

[Ezekiel]

Hi AiT,

I remember that thread! And I was thinking of it and you recently, when I saw the season’s first trees, signs, and lights appear in the local mall. Very festive. It’s a season for sales, but it doesn’t appear (to me at least) to be pretending to be something else.

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

[JimVT]

I spent 3 years in and around Tokyo (Irumagawa?) in the mid-50s and I recall hearing quite a few: “Melly Kurisimasu”s from the local folks.

JD

[EDINVA]

I remember your pix from ‘07, and how impressed I was with the Japanese enjoying the spirit of the Christian holiday. Ok, so the secular end .. but the spirit is there even in the secularism.

My daughter spent 2 years in Fukishima, the people could not have been more warm and wonderful to her. I have a very warm spot in my heart for the Japanese. As I recall, New Years Eve is a major Japanese holiday? Visiting ancestral resting places?

[SnuffaBolshevik]

Thanks, AIT.

I always enjoy your posts, but this one is the best.

Merry Christmas!

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

I totally enjoy your posts from Japan, especially during Christmastime...

[Clemenza]

Better than 90% Christian Spain, where you increasingly see “Feliz Fiestas” in the town plazas.

[Nervous Tick]

I will never forget the Christmas display I encountered in one of the stores in the Shin-Yokohama train station mall. A beautiful Christmas tree, and a speaker playing electronic-timbre Christmas carols at as loud a volume as they could get away with and not violate Japanese decorum.

I didn’t expect it, and it made me a little homesick, even though I was only over there for about a week.

The mall display was one of those schmaltzy commercial things; OTOH, 5 out of 7 of the upper management of our Japanese subsidiary were Christians — guess they were part of that 0.7%.

I love Japan. Used to go there quite often. Thanks for the post.

FRegards

[Question_Assumptions]

While it’s true that there are a lot of Christmas decorations in Japan this time of year, most of it lacks any religious connection (no Nativity scenes that I can remember) and that left it feeling a little hollow and soulless for me when I lived there. On the other hand, Colonel Sanders at KFC does look pretty good decked out for Christmas.

[netmilsmom]

Thank you so much for sharing this!!!!

I want to be where they say “Merry Christmas” order some Pizza-La and go to the Ghibli Museum.

Want to switch with me this year?
My in-laws aren’t THAT bad (she says snickering while turning away)

[gogogodzilla]

Don’t forget the traditional chicken dinner from KFC, ya know!

:-P

[jch10]

AIT, thanks for this refreshing post. I didn’t have a clue about Japanese customs regarding Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas, Japan.

[El Cid]

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories...

[alfa6]

Thanks for the ping AiT and a Happy Holidays to you, snicker, snicker:-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From Kansas no less

Best Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Bringbackthedraft]

If my memory serves me correctly, the Japanese adopted the gift giving portion at Christmas time back in the 50’s. Santa was called Father Winter or something close to that. ???