One of the things that worried me slightly about coming to Japan was the idea of Christmas in a country where, according to wikipedia, 84% of the population say they are not religious. Christmas is not even a public holiday in Japan, though luckily it does fall on a Saturday this year.
With this in mind I didn’t really think it would feel like Christmas this year for me, although having questioned some of the students in my classes I discovered people still put up a tree and exchange presents. I went to the nearest shopping centre yesterday to kill some time (and get out of my shoebox apartment) and was quietly thinking to myself how in the UK the shops would already have had their Christmas stock in for a good three weeks. Now, I complain about this aspect of our culture just as much as the next person, but it is nice I guess to have a reminder that even though the nights are drawing in, there is something to look forward to. Lost in my musings and drowning out the sound of the crowd with my ipod, I stepped on an escalator and became aware that at the top something was emitting a series of flashing lights. Out came the earphones, I could hear something in the distance…
Sleigh bells!!
Gliding off the escalator I found myself in front of Izumiya, my local supermarket. In the space of a week the entrance to the home section had been transformed into a winter wonderland!! There were Christmas trees galore, beautiful decorations, the most elaborate and technical Christmas cards I had ever seen (where you open them up and they become 3D card Christmas trees with flashing lights) and Christmas songs were playing in the background! I took some pictures of the main Christmas tree, decorated in true kawaii Japanese style with Rilakkuma (relax bear).
Sorry for the bad quality, I wish my ipod had auto focus! I guess that’ll be the aim for the next ipod they bring out.. although I have no intention of buying one for another few years. This one bankrupted me this month as it is.
So even if the Japanese don’t really celebrate Christmas per se, I now think that at least I won’t feel as if it never happened this year. I’ll take more pictures as time goes on anyhow to show you all the decorations that they sell here - I think there may be some sort of light festival coming to Kobe soon too so I will have to check that out. Ah, festivities!
With this in mind I didn’t really think it would feel like Christmas this year for me, although having questioned some of the students in my classes I discovered people still put up a tree and exchange presents. I went to the nearest shopping centre yesterday to kill some time (and get out of my shoebox apartment) and was quietly thinking to myself how in the UK the shops would already have had their Christmas stock in for a good three weeks. Now, I complain about this aspect of our culture just as much as the next person, but it is nice I guess to have a reminder that even though the nights are drawing in, there is something to look forward to. Lost in my musings and drowning out the sound of the crowd with my ipod, I stepped on an escalator and became aware that at the top something was emitting a series of flashing lights. Out came the earphones, I could hear something in the distance…
Sleigh bells!!
Gliding off the escalator I found myself in front of Izumiya, my local supermarket. In the space of a week the entrance to the home section had been transformed into a winter wonderland!! There were Christmas trees galore, beautiful decorations, the most elaborate and technical Christmas cards I had ever seen (where you open them up and they become 3D card Christmas trees with flashing lights) and Christmas songs were playing in the background! I took some pictures of the main Christmas tree, decorated in true kawaii Japanese style with Rilakkuma (relax bear).
Sorry for the bad quality, I wish my ipod had auto focus! I guess that’ll be the aim for the next ipod they bring out.. although I have no intention of buying one for another few years. This one bankrupted me this month as it is.
So even if the Japanese don’t really celebrate Christmas per se, I now think that at least I won’t feel as if it never happened this year. I’ll take more pictures as time goes on anyhow to show you all the decorations that they sell here - I think there may be some sort of light festival coming to Kobe soon too so I will have to check that out. Ah, festivities!
