The Great Geek Manual

With Christmas swiftly closing in and Japanese Culture Thursday stretching before me, I began wondering. How do the Japanese celebrate Christmas? The answer is, of course, they don’t. 84% of Japanese people profess to believe in both Shinto and Buddhist precepts, whereas less than 1% of the population practices Christianity. I still have a hard time believing our western culture hasn’t rubbed off at least a little on the Japanese, though. So, I ran a Google search for Japanese Christmas traditions, and came up with some interesting results:

• Merry Christmas is said, “Kurisumasu Omedeto.” Happy New Year (a much bigger holiday in Japan) is “Shinnen Omedeto.”




• December 25th is not a Japanese national holiday. Unless it is Sunday, Japanese people work and go to school on the day. Christmas is mostly a commercial event in Japan. Many people don’t even know what exact the origin of Christmas is.
• Most of the Christmas celebration revolves around Christmas eve and not Christmas day.
• In a few homes you may find small artificial Christmas trees decorated with small toys, dolls, ornaments, gold paper fans, lanterns, and even wind chimes. Candles are also placed on the branches. One of the most popular ornaments is the origami swan. The Christmas trees are usually purchased with the decorations already in place.
• In Japan the presents are brought by Hoteiosho, who closely resembles our Santa Claus. Originally Hoteiosho was a priest like St Nicholas. He is always pictured as a kind old man carrying a huge pack. The legend says that Hoteiosho has eyes in the back of his head. It is best for the children to be good when this all-seeing gentleman is around.
• Besides exchanging Christmas gifts, there is a custom of sending Oseibo (the end of the year gift) from business to business in Japan. Department stores are filled with displays for oseibo gift-packages. Sometimes it’s beer, fruit, hams, coffee, and so on. Oseibo are specifically given to pay back favors received during the year.

• A lot of people buy and enjoy not only gift exchanges but also Japan’s Western-looking Kurisumasu keeki (Christmas cake) which is traditionally sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberry topping. These cakes are particularly important and eaten on Christmas Eve. People usually purchase them, rather than baking them at home. The Kurisumasu keeki must be bought on or before Christmas eve and not Christmas day or after. The Christmas cakes that don’t sell by the twenty-fifth of December are discarded or sold as at a sharp discount. Cakes purchased after the twenty-fifth are considered bad luck.

  The stale Christmas cake is a traditional Japanese metaphor for an unmarried woman past the age of twenty-five. Through the mid-1980s, Japanese women believed that they had to marry by the age of twenty-five, or they would be doomed to become lonely old maids. In 1970, only 18 percent of Japanese women over the age of 27 were still single. In more recent time, referring to single women over twenty-five as expired Christmas cake has become antiquate, just as the phrase “old maid” is antiquated in the west.

• Houses are decorated with evergreens and mistletoe, and in some homes Christmas carols are sung. Often a tree branch is hung from the ceiling and an amulet is placed on the front door for good luck.
• One big difference between an American Christmas and a Japanese Christmas is that, in Japan, Christmas is largely marketed as a romantic holiday. For single women, it is crucial to have someone to be with on Christmas eve. The whole evening must be very special. Japanese women who have a boyfriend tend to show off, and women who don’t have a boyfriend tend to find that fact very embarrassing at this time of year. Christmas Eve has become a night for young lovers to go out and spend a romantic time together at fancy restaurants or hotels. It is almost impossible to make reservations for a restaurant or hotel at the last minute.
• Another institution heavily marketed at Christmas is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Seriously. I’ve read this is quite a few places. In Japan, KFC is marketed as a symbol of Western family values, and Christmas being a Western holiday, sales skyrocket.
• The Daiku, or “Great Nine,” refers to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which is traditionally associated with the holiday season.
• December 26, the decorations are taken down as the Japanese prepare for the New Year. Decorations don’t linger the way they do in America.
• Many parties are held around Christmas. December is the bounenkai (forget-the-year-party) season in Japan. Therefore, Christmas parties tends to be mixed up with bounenkai. You will see many drunk people on the street on December nights in Japan.
• The story of the Jesus’ manger birth fascinates Japanese girls, who love anything having to do with babies. The Nativity is often the first time children see a cradle, as Japanese babies don’t traditionally sleep in cradles.