January 18, 2006

 

Christmas in Fukushima

Seasons greetings (or as we say in Japan: Merry Christmas!). Unlike in the West, and most of the world for that matter, people here do not worry too much about being politically incorrect with regards to religion. The Japanese (less than 1% are Christian) have adopted Christmas as a type of children's festival where it has become the custom to eat at KFC followed by strawberry shortcake at home! They are oblivious to its religious significance.

The Japanese New Year, however, is a lot like Christmas back home in that families get together to eat traditional food and also visit their local shrine or temple. It is also a time when parents and grandparents give little envelopes of money known as "toshidama" to the children. This, of course, is followed by a trip to the nearest TOYS R US!!

Below are photos of Santa's visit to our kindergarten Christmas party on December 22nd. And YES, what you see on the ground is snow!!





Comments:
I like the blog that you have heer and i liked this post because i think that it is good to have tradition and days of families and celebration and i do think also that people should lighten up on political correctness of christmas and should embrace it for what it shuld be. a time of love and joy and happy times
 
Thank you for your input, Belinda.

May happy times continue well into the new year for all of us!
 
Well said,

I liked what you had to say about this subject, Regis. Actually, Christmas should be for children worldwide, forget about any of its other significances.

Samoht 1/22/06 2:04 pm.
 
This is the first time that I've seen snow in Japan.

Samoht
 
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