From 0.7% Christian Japan, "MERRY CHRISTMAS" To All (It Is Said & Seen EVERYWHERE Here)

AmericanInTokyo ^ | 3 December 2009 | AmericanInTokyo

[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.

[AmericanInTokyo]

We had reports from Taiwan and Philippines last year, too, and year before on this kind of thread, and they gave great reports. What is WRONG with the USA? We are so out of step!!

[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.

[max americana]

Thanks! I asked for pics from last year though AIT. Send us some new ones this year.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Urban Legend

You cannot find a foreigner in Tokyo who believes that story and believe me I have asked many.

It floated around as a story in the 1950s, then floated in the 1900s, Snopes and others looked into it. Oh well. Lots of stuff on the internet these days, but certainly not all of it is true. I WILL vouch for what my own eyes have seen year in and year out. Please enjoy the photos from 2 years ago. Merry Christmas! And I will add on some new ones.

[max americana]

My brother’s in laws are from the Philippines and the only Asian country which is 90% Christian.

They celebrate the 12 days of Christmas by attending..gulp..the 5 am masses before the 25th and say Merry Christmas/Maligayang Pasko with no liberal guilt. Bells ring at early mornings and they dont care.

[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.

[AmericanInTokyo]

We will get a few taken over the next few days, thanks for the request and for keeping on me about it.

[BobL]

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

Same as USA!! Nevermind, that was 30 years ago, before our large companies were run by a bunch of metrosexuals.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Maybe we will try to make it a regular thing each year.

But only God willing. For who knows where I will be in future years? In Kenya or Papua New Guinea or Latvia or good ol' South Carolina. Could be any of them!! ;-)

[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?

[AmericanInTokyo]

That would have probably been Johnson AFB, if my guess is correct.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The visiting ancestral graves is more for mid August (Obon) but some people do that in January, but many less. Mostly it is eating a lot around the home, going to a shrine to pray for a good year, wearing good clothes, watching a lot of silly TV, reading magazines and books portending what the future year will bring, usually heavy on economics and politics. Tht is typical Japanese New Year. (oshogatsu). Yes.