Christmas in Tokyo

My mom and sister have been surprised and interested to hear about our experience with Christmas here, so I thought maybe other people would be too.  My mom assumed there wouldn't be an ornament or candy cane in sight, but it's actually quite the contrary.  Seeing as Japan excels in anything cute or sparkly I was not surprised to see that Japan has embraced Christmas and is totally decorated and festive.  When we arrived in early November many of the decorations and lights were already up, but even more have gone up in December and Christmas carols can now be heard 24/7 in all the convenience stores.  (And my favorite store Don Quixote seems to always be playing Justin Bieber Christmas songs)

I've been taking pictures over the last week to give you an idea of what we're seeing.

They've got the Christmas Inflatables

Little Christmas Trees

And Big Christmas Trees

Shibuya has a Floating Christmas Tree with Light Up Reindeer

Christmas Trees for Sale

And Other Christmas Things For Sale

Children Made These Little Snowmen

Grandpa Snowman with a Hipster Mustache

Snowlady with Raku

But even though Japan gets the decorations right they certainly don't celebrate the way we do in the US.  Christmas seems to have made its way over here without the religious meaning attached (although I did see a church with a nativity up) which makes sense because very few Japanese people are Christian.  Here, Christmas is a holiday celebrated by couples - sort of like Valentine's Day.  In fact, John's office mate was surprised to learn that we were buying presents for all of our family members because you would only get one for you lover here.

KFC has gotten in on the fun, offering a Christmas special that it seems most people get - because they think that's what we do.  I've seen several Colonel statues dressed up in Santa suits for the season.

I think we'll pass

Speaking of Christmas, I think I've found the perfect gift for John.

He'll love it, right?

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and I know that ours will be very different this year, but also very wonderful!