Does Japan celebrate Christmas as a national holiday like the West?
No, Xmas is not a national holiday since Japan is not a Christian country. Xmas is celebrated privately in families, it is a feast for love, toys and KFC! Most Japanese are fairly ignorant about Christmas, just as most North Americans are fairly ignorant about the Japanese New Year holiday. (Our first Christmas we bought a small evergreen arrangement for a tiny “Christmas tree” only to find out later it was a traditional Japanese religious decoration for the New Year!) But there is a certain kind of Christmas here in Japan. Let me describe it a little. At the end of November merchandising heralds the onset (onslaught?) of the season. Santa’s show up in some advertising and Christmas carols can be heard in stores. (In English!) Also advertisements appear for special Christmas eve and Christmas day hotel & restaurant dinners and shows, generally with a strong romance theme. More and more Christmas lights are going up each year (probably a thousand per cent increase in the seven years we’
