Christmastime in Japan

Despite Christmas being a mainly Christian holiday, the Japanese still celebrate it though with some twists of their own.

Christmas in Japan is a bit different from America. Despite the major religions in Japan being Buddhism and Shinto, Christmas is held as more of a commercial event rather than a religious holiday with the main celebration happening around Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day.

It is common to give Christmas presents in Japan, and Santa Claus is known to visit the children as confirmed by the NORAD Santa Tracker. Within the family, parents give presents to their children, but the children do not give presents to the parents. As in America, the reason for this is that only Santa brings presents, so once the child no longer believes in Santa, the presents are no longer given.

Most Japanese families do have a Christmas tree and it is becoming increasingly common to have Christmas light displays on the outside of houses like in some Western countries. KFC also takes part in the holiday. Thanks to KFC and Japan's lack of turkeys, fried chicken has become a traditional Japanese Christmas dinner. It is almost impossible to get into a KFC restaurant on Christmas Eve and many families will order their chicken ahead so that they can eat at the earliest convenience.

Christmas is also considered a very romantic holiday and lovers are supposed to spend the evening together doing couple activities. It is really crucial for single women in Japan to have someone to spend Christmas Eve with (kind of like Valentine's Day in America). It is also really important where they spend Christmas Eve and what present they receive. The whole evening has to be very special, elaborate and romantic. Japanese women who have a boyfriend tend to show off, so women who are single are not happy to talk about the topic.

There is also a traditional joke that compares Christmas to a woman's age. Cake shops throughout Japan always try to sell all their Christmas cakes before Christmas Eve. Any cakes left after Christmas are seen to be very old or out of date. Unmarried women over 25 years old used to be called 'unsold Christmas Cake'. Since the average age for marriage has changed, with people marrying older and older, and cakes are delicious, this joke is falling out of use, to the pleasure of most single women.