Christmas in Japan
Baku, January 1 (AZERTAC). Christmas in Japan is quite different from the Christmas celebrated in most countries in which the population has a large percentage of Christians or a Christian heritage. Only 1/2 of 1% of the Japanese population is estimated to be Christian, with the majority of Japanese being tolerant of all faiths: Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, etc. In spite of this, the Japanese are great lovers of festivals and celebrations, including Christmas.
December 25th is not a national holiday in Japan, although December 23rd, which is the birthday of the present emperor, is. Although it is not an official holiday the Japanese tend to celebrate Christmas, especially in a commercial way. The Japanese celebrate Christmas Eve by eating a `Christmas Cake` which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work (or his wife does in the case where he has to work on Christmas Eve).
In recent years, thanks to the marketing prowess of the folks at Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Christmas Chicken Dinner has become quite popular. Many Japanese even make reservations for their "Christmas Chicken" ahead of time. People line up at their outlets to pick up their orders.
Christmas Eve has been hyped by the T.V. media as being a time for romantic miracles. It is seen as a time to be spent with one`s boyfriend or girlfriend in a romantic setting, so fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid at this time. It is often also a time when girls get to reveal their affections to boys and vice versa.
Christmas presents are exchanged between people with romantic commitments as well as close friends. The presents tend to be `cute` presents and often include Teddy Bears, flowers, scarves, rings and other jewellery. Christmas cards are also given to close friends.
The Christmas season comes during the month of the year-end parties. Company groups, hobby groups, sports groups, etc. often book a section of a restaurant to have drinking parties, known as `bonenkai` [forget the old year parties]. This phenomena leads to streets, subways, and trains full of people in varied states of intoxication during this season.
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