Omoshiroi. Good summation of a lot of Christmas history in Japan in a few succinct sentences!!
I spent Christmas of 1996 (and New Years a week later) in the Osaka/Kansai area - proposing to the future Mrs. Zetman. It felt a bit depressing having December 25 be just another regular business day, but the thrill and novelty of being in a foreign country (other than Canada or Mexico) for the first time helped make up for it. Plus, Kyoto on New Years Eve is a very happenin' place to be!!
I do what is called by some in the Catholic Church "The Old Latin Mass", and attend a Parish run by an Apostlate devoted exclusively to that Rite (The Institiute of Christ the King). This year, they ordained their first Japanese seminarian - Raphael Ueda. He is also from the Kansai area, although the Institute has posted him in Rome, Italy. It would be nice if they would send him to start a Parish in Japan someday. Perhaps he could help increase that 1% a bit more!! Either way, we hope to meet him in person sometime this year, if they have him visit the USA.
As someone once said, if, after nearly 400 years, you only have abou 1% market share, your business development, advertising and marketing plans are somehow in need of a tweaking.