I can’t believe it’s 2014. Crazy talk. This holiday season has certainly been the most interesting one I have ever experienced. Allow me to try to figure it out myself as I explain it to you.
Kobe Illuminare
Christmas in Kyoto
This was the first Christmas I have ever spent away from my family in Yorba Linda. Was it hard? I think so, but I was pretty distracted trying to figure out just what the heck was going on around here. Christmas in Japan is different. Very different. But interesting. Here’s how.
Arashiyama bamboo forest light up
Happy Halloween and Merry Christmas
I kid you not, on the night of Halloween I was walking to my Japanese class in Uji City when I passed by a store window to find, not Halloween decorations, but a woman decorating a Christmas tree. Huh? By November 1 Christmas lights were sparking to life in stores all across the city. In America I often complained about how Christmas was threatening to take over my favorite holiday of Thanksgiving (I like to eat). Well in Japan I have seen what happens when that Thanksgiving buffer isn’t there. Christmas season was a solid two months long.
Will you be my Christmas Valentine?
Despite a frighteningly plunging birth rate, and an apparently shy and reserved culture, romance is huge in Japan. The second most common question I have been asked by Japanese people is “Do you have a girlfriend?” (number 1 is “How tall are you?”). So Christmas is a couple’s holiday. Actually Christmas Day isn’t really a thing here, so it’s just Christmas Eve. Hand-in-hand, all the young Japanese couples take to the streets to shop, flirt, eat, and shop. They score bonus cuteness points if the girlfriend wears reindeer ears or a santa-skirt-outfit-thing. And gifts? Sorry mom and dad, but the gf or bf takes precedence. Man, I thought one Singles Awareness day was enough.
Our teacher band performing at the end of the year party. Note the two examples santa-skirt-outfit-things.
KFC
Guess who’s the favorite chef around on Christmas Eve? It’s not your mamma. That’s right, it’s Colonel Sanders. I have no idea why, but Kentucky Fried Chicken is the most popular restaurant in Japan on Christmas Eve. People will make reservations hours in advance for a bucket of the Colonel’s fried chicken. The best explanation I’ve heard is that Japanese people think Americans eat chicken on Christmas. Christmas is an American holiday, therefore KFC is the perfect Christmas dinner. Right? I don’t get it. My students were completely shocked when I told them that in America nobody eats KFC on Christmas. But they probably still lined up for it anyway.
gingerbread cookies I made with my English Club students
Happy Holidays? Nope.
I really wasn’t expecting Christmas to be such a big deal here, considering less than 1% of the population identifies as Christian. Even more interesting, however, was the complete absence of the whole “Happy Holidays” controversy. In America, like everything else, Christmas too has become a political debate. Somehow saying “Merry Christmas” isn’t politically correct anymore. (What the heck does “politically correct” mean anyway?). Well in Japan, it was “Merry Christmas” all the way – from small talk to storefronts to the mammoth Christmas tree in Kyoto Station. I even taught an explicitly Christmas lesson to all my students. We played Christmas Jeopardy, and one of the categories I made was “the Real Christmas”, where every question was about Jesus. In public high school! And nobody had any issue with this.
Kyoto Station Christmas tree
In one perspective, this seems really awesome, as if there were greater freedom of worship in Japan than the “Land of the Free”. However, the truth behind the matter is a bit more disheartening. In America, it is troubling how commercialism has been conquering Christmas, how Santa and presents have become a bigger deal than celebrating Emanuel – God with us. In Japan, commercialism hasn’t conquered Christmas. Santa hasn’t become a bigger deal than Jesus. The truth is, the Japanese don’t know Jesus. So Christmas, therefore, has always been about commercialism. That’s why it starts on Halloween, that’s why it’s a cutesy couple’s day, that’s way even KFC is raking in the cash. If only this beloved nation could celebrate the greatest treasure ever known – an almighty God that would choose to leave His throne to walk this Earth, to teach us, to suffer for us, and to die for us. What can compare?
And me?
Shoot, I love Jesus. It was a remarkable thing being able to celebrate our Savior’s birth in a nation that doesn’t know Him. In America, Christmas was often an emotionally confusing time for me, as I found myself struggling to enjoy the decorations, the music, the shopping and all the hype. Somehow, all the stuff that once seemed like a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas was a beautiful reminder of my home country and culture. I played Christmas Jeopardy with all my classes, made gingerbread cookies and watched Home Alone with my English Club, wrote Christmas Cards to my English Club students, gave gifts to a few teachers, and even played guitar and sang Christmas songs at two different Christmas parties. Best of all, I got to go to a small but sweet Christmas Eve service at my church, and co-plan a youth Christmas party on the night of Christmas Day. It was awesome.
New Years in Tokyo
view of Mt. Fuji from the shinkansen
On December 29, the shinkansen, Japan’s futuristic bullet train, carried me from Kyoto to Tokyo in less than two and a half hours. I stepped out of the maze of Tokyo station into the wildest urban jungle I have ever seen. Tokyo is nuts. It’s huge, it’s vertical, it’s from the future, and it’s full of people. It’s hard to describe it much better than that. Exploring this incredible city for four days was quite the adventure. I oogled at the bizarre fashions of Harajuku, watched dense crowds navigate the Shibuya scramble, got lost in Shinjuku station (the busiest train station in the world), saw Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree, enjoyed incredible views from a skyscraper in Roppongi Hills, and ate lots of good food. I was also blessed with seeing some Bruin friends. Airin, who’s family generously hosted me, was a classmate and close friend, Sho was a buddy from Bridges two years ago, Carrie was a co-worker at my athletics-tutoring gig, and Quinn was a sister in Christ from UCLA Cru. Bruin diaspora!
catching up with Airin and Sho at an izakaya. Airin took some artistic liberties with the photo.
The Shibuya scramble
Tokyo Sky Tree
Tokyo’s urban jungle sprawling from Roppongi Hills. Tokyo Sky Tree is on the horizon on the left, Tokyo Tower is the red one on the right.
New Years is a huge family holiday in Japan, so it was a tremendous blessing to share it with family in Christ. The hospitality Airin’s family showed me was incredible. Plus, we got to extend that blessing to my friend Carrie and two of her current Bruin co-workers (actually one was a Trojan but let’s not dwell on that. We still showed her Bruin love). We ate some amazing nabe (Japanese hot-pot) in their traditional tatami room, then went downstairs to play jenga and watch the famous Japanese New-Years count-down TV show. It was captivating. Every big J-pop star was there to belt out their top hits of the year and show off their crazy fashion. Shortly before midnight we began working on our calligraphy – another cherished holiday tradition. Calligraphy is an incredible art-form that takes many years of practice, but after three hours I was quite satisfied with my creation.
New Years Eve family
平常心(Heijoushin) – a samurai word meaning something like sound mind and spirit, no fear, and total confidence. Pretty boss.
Shortly after midnight I went on to the roof to look out over Tokyo. What I witnessed in the chilly winter air is clearly documented in my memory. No fireworks, no flashing lights, no shouts and cheers, almost no sound at all save for one – the steady and ominous toll of a temple bell. It was a sound reminder of my reality. 2014 is a crazy year – a year spent living and serving in Japan, this nation that I have truly come to love and long for. Pray for Japan.
KonnichiWhatsup 