Christmas in Japan

You may know Christmas as a Western tradition, but the Japanese have taken Christmas to heart - although in a different way. Read more about this and Shizu's Christmas memories in this article.

I've heard foreigners say: big Christmas trees are displayed here and there in town around Christmas season, but I never hear Christmas carols or anyone saying "Merry Christmas!" somehow... But that's no wonder, because our Christmas has nothing to do with religion. So, if you want to hear Christmas carols you have to go to a church.

Perhaps the thing called クリスマス (kurisumasu - Christmas) was modeled on how it is celebrated in America, but the religious aspects seem to have been ignored. Anyway, lots of Japanese people think that クリスマス (Christmas) is the time for eating クリスマスケーキ (kurisumasu keeki - cakes for Christmas), for サンタクロース (santakuroosu - Santa Claus) to come with プレゼント (purezento - gift), for having a party, spending a romantic night with your lover etc.

Thus, Japanese ケーキ屋さん (keekiyasan - cake shops) are really busy around this season. Possibly, they might be even busier than サンタさん (santa-san - Mr. Santa). When I was a child (long ago) we used to buy a クリスマスケーキ (Christmas cake) on the 24th of December, perhaps on the way home from work. But now, lots of us make reservations to buy one as early as the beginning of December or the end of November. A cake shop sends you a reservation ticket, and you take it to the shop on the 24th or 25th and pay for the cake. Of course it's expected that the shop counter will be unbelievably crowded (especially at a popular cake shop), so you might buy クリスマスケーキ (cakes for Christmas) somewhere else like コンビに (konbini - convenience store).

In my childhood, the cake was usually 生ショート (なまショート - nama-shooto), which is a big round sponge cake decorated with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. Another type has butter cream frosting instead of 生クリーム (なまクリーム - namakuriimu - fresh cream), with a pink rose also made of frosting instead of いちご (ichigo - strawberry). Some shops had a chocolate version of the latter type, but they didn't have many different types of cake for クリスマス (Christmas). But now, they have many different types, and you can even get Christmas sweets of other countries at ケーキ屋さん (keekiyasan - cake shop) and パン屋さん (panyasan - bakery shop).

And how about gifts?

Of course children long for this season, and some of them believe firmly in the existence of サンタさん (Santa-san). Since recent children ask サンタさん for more expensive プレゼント (purezento - gift), the parents who are false Santa-san have to ask their own parents for help in paying for the presents. Parents used to go to おもちゃ屋さん (omochayasan - toy shops) before, but nowadays, they also have to go to other shops like パソコン・ショップ (pasokon shoppu - computer shop). Sometimes the プレゼント are quite big and heavy, so I suspect that Santa-san's 袋（ふくろ - fukuro - sack) must be pretty heavy-duty and the トナカイ (tonakai - reindeer) must be very strong, lol.

In addition to 親 (おや - oya - parents) buying presents for their children, you might be busy buying gifts for your 家族 (かぞく - kazoku - family), 友達 (ともだち - tomodachi - friends) and 恋人 (こいびと - koibito - lover). The town is crowded with such Christmas shoppers, and lots of shops have Christmas bargain sales.

By the way, things are usually lively even on Christmas day itself. Some 家族 spend the night at home with some ご馳走 (ごちそう - gochisou - lots of tasty food and cuisines) including Christmas cake, but younger people might prefer spending time with their friends at レストラン (resutoran - restaurant), 居酒屋 (いざかや - izakaya - pub) and カラオケ (karaoke - karaoke place) etc. Most　レストラン have a special menu for クリスマス , and many 居酒屋 have special food for Christmas parties. It's safer to reserve the seats earlier, but you might not have enough time to plan the party because of your work. Since we are not クリスチャン (Christians), we don't have any Christmas holidays. So, if  クリスマス・イブ (kurisumasu ibu - Christmas Eve) falls on Saturday or Sunday, the town is livelier and noisier.

In addition to the parties in eating places, some events like コンサート (konsaato - concerts) are held on Christmas day. Some are in concert halls, and in kindergartens children may have a クリスマス・パーティー (kurisumasu paatii - Christmas party) if Christmas day is a weekday. Lots of schools enter 冬休み (ふゆやすみ - fuyuyasumi - winter holidays) around the 25th, so it's a delicate matter when the students have the party. But this is here in Hokkaido, and winter holidays are sometimes shorter in other regions. At any rate, lots of students and younger people like to have a Christmas party at someone's house, and you might enjoy homemade cooking including cakes. You might enjoy exchanging Christmas gifts, some of which are cheap and funny or ridiculous instead of more serious expensive ones.

Christmas Party!

At your workplace, you might have クリスマス・パーティー (Christmas party), but it may or may not be enjoyable. If your company or office is more friendly, the party might be comfortable. But in a bigger company with lots of workers, they can be tiresome. You may have to make many preparations for the party, such as decision about where it will be, reservations at a restaurant or pub, buying drinks, games and the prize, confirming who will attend, gathering and counting the money for all of that, and so on. The party may be quite lively and can be pleasant, but you still have to talk with your boss in 敬語 (けいご - polite and modest words) as always. If you don't tolerate alcohol well, you might be sick because of that, but you can't go home early. Even after the party is over, some people might complain to you about the eating place or the cuisine or the prize, etc., etc., etc. Such a Christmas party is meaningless and rubbish, don't you think?

If you have kids, you might enjoy displaying クリスマスツリー (kurisumasu tsurii - Christmas tree) at home together with them. We used to do this in my childhood, and it was 松の木 (まつのき - matsu no ki - pine tree), not 樅の木 (もみのき - momi no ki - fir tree). Around here pine trees are seen commonly in gardens, and recently some people decorate them with colorful small light bulbs during Christmas season. But lots of people display the ツリー (tsurii - Christmas tree) inside the house, and it takes up a lot of space. So, you might buy quite small ツリー (Christmas tree) which is put in a plastic box. The tiny tree is already decorated more simply, and all you do is put the box on your 机 (つくえ - tsukue - desk), dinner テーブル (teeburu - table), 本棚 (ほんだな - hondana - book shelf) or wherever you want. Since the tree is not natural, you don't have to take care of it, and you can choose different sizes depending on the size of your room, or on the price.

Thus, even if you live alone in a small appartment, you can have a taste of Christmas time. But you might want another person's company. Maybe it's because you think this season should livelier or more romantic.

Language Notes

We use katakana to write words and phrases from foreign countries (with the exception of older words from China), and lots of Christmas terms are written in katakana for that reason.

Recently more Western type sweets have been introduced together with the original names, which are converted to katakana, but some of the pronunciations are far from the original ones. Besides, some of the names are strange mixtures of different languages, so it might be difficult to figure out the original names.

• シュトーレン - shutooren - German Christmas sweets "Schtolen"
  Recently it's often seen around Christmas season.
• パネトーネ - panetoone - Italian Christmas sweets "panettone"
  It's getting popular recently.
• シュークリーム - shuukuriimu - French sweets "chou à la crème" + English word "cream"
  This is a very popular sweet in Japan.
• プリン - purin - pudding
  We love sweet puddings.
• パウンドケーキ - paundokeeki - pound cake
  This has been a common sweet for a long time.
• アップルパイ - appurupai - apple pie
  There are some types of apple pie at cake shops, bakeries and fastfood shops.
• バームクーヘン - baamukuuhen - German sweets "Baumkuchen"
• Recently we have several flavours of this, such as chocolate,　banana, melon, coffee, spicy, maple etc.
• We address and call someone with "さん (san)" as you already know maybe, and we also use this for shops and the people who work in them. The word "屋 (や - ya" means "shop", and it's often used together with "さん".
• ケーキ - keeki - Western type sweets
• ケーキ屋（さん） - keeki -ya (-san) - cake shop or cake shop worker
• パン - pan - bread
• パン屋(さん) - pan-ya (-san) - bakery shop or shop's worker

Author

This article was written by Shizu

Edited by the StudyJapanese.org Team