Happy Kentucky Xmas!

The man in the photo with me is the man of the season. You got it- Colonel Sanders. (First, I should probably tell you that outside every KFC in Japan- and Korea- there is a life-size mascot of The Colonel standing there to beckon you in.)

What, you may ask, does KFC have to do with Christmas? Well, that is a question that even those of us living in Japan this long have not fully come to understand.

OK… get out your pen and paper. It’s time for a quick Christmas quiz!
(These are a few of the same questions I gave my students in a “Betting game” as an opener to my Christmas lesson.)
True or False:
1.) Most Americans eat KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) for Christmas dinner.
2.) American children give Christmas presents to their parents.
3.) Americans eat Christmas cake.
You would not believe how many students “bet the ranch” on #1 and #3 being true, and #2 being false.

I guess every country has its own Christmas traditions, and Japan is no exception. As Japan has very few Christians (and really no religion at all, as some would contend) the Christmas holiday really has a very different definition here. Take, for example, a story which a friend of mine living in Tokyo 10 years ago says she witnessed of a department store’s display window with Santa Claus… get this… NAILED to a cross… Just a little mixing of holiday symbols.

So what the Japanese lack in the religious understanding of the holiday, they certainly make up in the commercial end… which, of course, can really be argued of any culture. And the Japanese DO notoriously love to shop. Really, Chrismtastime in Japan looks about the same as it does anywhere. Stores are filled with shoppers and traditional Christmas music fills the air, Christmas decorations- especially Christmas lights and “illuminations”- abound, and there are Santa costumes (even the pizza delivery guys wear them on their scooters!) and lots of candy and sweets.

But ask anyone what their families do for Christmas, and you begin to understand the Japanese have their own take on the holiday. Typical Christmas dinner is special-ordered bucket of KFC (sometimes special roast chicken, sometimes fried… doesn’t matter as long as it’s a “Kentucky Christmas!”) When I say “special-ordered,” I mean that people put their orders in weeks in advance because it is THE Christmas meal. If it ain’t Kentucky, it ain’t Christmas! The only explanation I have reached for this is that turkey is rare in Japan and chicken is the closest thing… and KFC is American, and Christmas is, too, of course!

Then, there’s dessert. I believe I posted a picture of a traditional Japanese “Christmas cake” back around the time of my birthday in October. It’s decorated like a birthday cake with white frosting and fruit.
But that’s about the exent of the “family” part of Christmas here. Because, really, Christmas in Japan is really only for two groups of people: Children and “Lovers.”

Children (but only up until about the age of 13, like these kids at my special needs school) get presents from Santa Claus. People don’t really exchange presents with anyone else in their family. This means parents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. get squat for Christmas. It doesn’t trouble the kids too much once they’ve passed their Santa cut-off age because they still get about an average of $300 in New Year‘s money gifts a week later (up until about age 20) from their family members and neighbors.

As for the “lovers” (the Japanese love that word) bit, let me just share with you a conversation I had with two 17-year students (both boys) at my high school.

Me: “Do you have any special plans for Christmas?” (Thinking they would tell me they would be eating KFC and Christmas cake.)
Boy #1: “No… I don’t have a girlfriend right now.”
Boy #2: “Me too. So I’m sad. I will stay home for Christmas.”

(Of course, the real answer for this question is that they don’t have any special plans because their day will be spent at school, doing extra classes during their joke of a winter break. In reality, they really only get a week off and more than enough homework to keep them busy… after all, you wouldn’t want them to have any time to actually relax or enjoy themselves!)

So really, you could almost compare Christmas – particularly Christmas EVE- in Japan to Valentine’s Day in the U.S. because it is when all of the couples emerge, finely dressed, holding hands, going to fancy restaurants, enjoying the romantic illuminations, and, most importantly, exchanging presents to show their love for one another. Yep, Christmas Eve is actually the biggest “date night” of the year in this country.

I instead enjoyed Christmas Eve with some friends (my “family” in Japan) who are still here for the holidays. We had a little party at my friend’s apartment, watched Christmas classics like “The Grinch” and “It’s a Beautiful Life" before heading to church for the English Candlelight Service. Somehow it made it feel a little more like "Christmas" for all of us. The night before that, we had all gone out to Karaoke to sing all of the Christmas classics we could find in the big selection book.

As I mentioned before, I went to school today because, well, December 25th is just another day. Hey, there was fried chicken in my Bento today, at least!

I could’ve taken the day off, but I really need to save my vacation time since it’s limited to just 20 days a year and I only have 9 days remaining, 4 of which I will use for my upcoming trip. (Fortunately, New Year’s Day is a BIG holiday here so I will get a few extra days off of school.)

My sister is arriving in Japan tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to having her here, especially because she’s the first person in my family to visit. Two days after that, we’ll head for sunny Thailand. Looking forward to some R&R finally!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! I hope the spirit of the season fills your hearts.. and anything but KFC fills your stomachs… (unless that’s truly what you desire… if so, you are certainly not alone in the world! Enjoy!)