Christmas in Japan
I confess I don’t care much about Xmas. It was okay when I was a kid because of the presents I found under the tree. Apart from that, I found Xmas Day too long and boring and, yes, the food was alright but there’s just so much you can eat before your stomach starts cursing you.
Luckily, Japan has a more laidback approach. That’s one of the things I like about this country: first off, Xmas is not even a holiday. Obviously, religion plays an irrelevant part in the festivities, and even home parties are not those bloated affairs one has to endure in the West.
Sorry if I sound profane. Anyway, this is Part 1 of my exploration of Xmas, Japanese-style. Let me know what you think about it
In December, when the days get gradually colder and shorter, illuminations take center stage in every Japanese city after dark, and Christmas songs can be heard everywhere. Japan has a long love affair with Western culture, and Christmas is one of the Japanese’s favorite festivities.
It may seem odd that a non-Christian country celebrates Christmas. After all, only around 1% of the population claims Christian belief or affiliation, and all the main religious events revolve around either Shinto or Buddhism. However, the Japanese are not only very tolerant when it comes to religion but have a long history of importing different cultures and customs from abroad and incorporating them into their lifestyle.
Though the wholesale import of Western culture only began in the Meiji period (1868-1912), Japan’s first significant contact with Christianity goes as far back as the 16th century. In 1552, in fact, Cosme de Torres, a Jesuit and one of the first missionaries to reach the archipelago, invited Japanese believers to the Suo Province (today’s Yamaguchi Prefecture) to celebrate what became the first Christmas Mass ever held in Japan. However, soon after that, Christianity fell out of favor with the authorities. In 1587, with the Bateren Edict, Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned all missionary activities. Then, following the Shimabara Rebellion (1638), the Edo shogunate killed 37,000 people, forcing the few survivors to practice their faith in secret, and banned Christianity for more than 200 years, until the beginning of the Meiji era.
After the Portuguese traders and missionaries were expelled from Japan, the Dutch trading post in Dejima, Nagasaki, remained the only safe island where Christmas could be celebrated. On such occasions, officials of the shogunate and other Japanese people who had a connection with the foreign mission, such as Dutch scholars, were also invited. In addition, there were occasions when Japanese people living in Nagasaki who were well acquainted with the Netherlands, also celebrated in imitation of their customs. Representatives of the Dutch trading post sometimes visited Edo, and it is said that the Tokugawa officials were curious about Dutch cuisine and culture including the way they celebrated the New Year.
Apparently, Shiki Masaoka, one of the four great haiku masters (the other three were Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa) was the first to mention Christmas in a poem. Shiki's first Christmas-related haiku appeared in 1892 when he was 25 years old.
After Rohachi / comes noisy Christmas
Rohachi is a Buddhist event in early December. Shiki at the time seemed to think that after such a solemn event, Christmas was a little too noisy and he didn’t really like it. However, he quickly warmed up to this festivity, and in the next seven years, almost every year he devoted a haiku to what he began to regard as a joyful occasion. In this way, クリスマス(Christmas) became the first seasonal word in the katakana alphabet to be used in Japanese poetry.
The pioneer of Christmas illuminations in Japan is said to be Meijiya, a high-end supermarket that used to be located in Tokyo’s posh Ginza district. Meijiya founder Isono Hakaru had studied in England and wanted to recreate in Japan what he had experienced abroad. The first Christmas decorations were displayed in 1900 after the store had moved from Yokohama to Ginza. The specific design at that time is unknown, but there is a photo of the storefront from the Taisho era (1912-1925). The words MERRY XMAS feature prominently on the elegant façade. On top of those, a sign that seems to depict Santa Claus welcomes visitors.
Tanka poet Kinoshita Rigen was another intellectual whose imagination was caught by the novelty: Meijiya's Christmas decoration lights sparkle / and it starts to snow.
This poem was later included in high school textbooks.
Meijiya’s illuminations caused such a sensation that people came from afar to see them, and other shops began to put up similar decorations. However, the shopping itself was still a limited affair since the gorgeous merchandise on display was off-limits for most families. Accordingly, the first Christmas shoppers were wealthy people with refined tastes and an interest in “exotic” Western culture.
Regardless of the shopping, Christmas illumination has continued to be a prominent feature of the holiday season. Nearly a century after Meijiya’s pioneering campaign, the Kobe Luminarie was held for the first time in December 1995. The city of Kobe had been severely damaged by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in January of the same year, and a new event was organized to mourn the victims of the disaster and pray for the reconstruction of the city. In this respect, the illumination was regarded as a “light of hope” and a symbol of recovery.
Although the Luminarie was originally planned to be a one-time event, its huge success led the organizers to turn it into an annual event with the aim of bringing back tourists to Kobe, since their number had drastically decreased due to the disaster.
Appropriately held in the former foreign settlement, the ten-day festival regularly attracts more than three million visitors from around the country to admire the unique geometric patterns and decorations that every year are designed and installed by an Italian company.
Starting with the Kobe Luminarie, the number of large-scale events aimed at revitalizing the city centers and attracting tourists began to spread around the country. According to the Japan Illumination Association, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which consume less power than incandescent lamps, have become mainstream for the past ten years. Recently, a new type of “interactive” illumination that lights up when one steps on it or changes color when you clap your hands has become popular. As for Meijiya, a few years ago it moved to nearby Kyobashi, about 500 meters from its old location.
Back to our historical excursus, in the Taisho period, boys’ and girls' magazines introduced many Christmas-related stories and illustrations in their December issues. Also, in 1925, Japan's first Christmas stickers (stamps that were given to people who donated to a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis) were issued.
Starting with the Meiji period, the government added two new holidays to the Japanese calendar. One celebrated the current emperor’s birthday while the other one coincided with the day the former emperor had died. This, of course, meant that those two days changed with every new succession to the throne. As Emperor Taisho died on December 25th, 1926, the holiday law was revised to create the Taisho Emperor Festival on that day. This coincidence further contributed to enhancing Christmas’s popularity in Japan in the following years. In 1928, for instance, the Asahi Shimbun, one of the country’s main dailies, wrote, “Christmas has now become an annual event in Japan, and children love Santa Claus.”
This situation lasted until 1948 when the holiday was abolished, and today, Japan is one of the countries in which though the schools are closed because of the end-of-the-year vacations, December 25th is a normal weekday and people continue to work as usual.
In truth, there is a movement to make Christmas a national holiday, the reasoning being that since Christmas is followed by year-end and New Year holidays, it makes it easier for working people to use paid holidays and take longer vacations (until last year, by the way, December 23rd was celebrated as the Emperor Heisei Birthday). However, for many businesses, the end of the year is the so-called "busy season” and most companies are against letting their employees rest. In addition, it is difficult to make the memorial day of a specific religion a public holiday due to the principle of separation of Church and State stipulated in the Japanese Constitution.
This, combined with the fact that the scale of the Christmas events is still relatively small compared to the Christian world, has created an interesting situation that is potentially favorable to the local tourism industry. In 2014, Skyscanner, a British travel site, began to recommend countries for people who "are not in the habit of celebrating Christmas with their families, are not religious, and want to avoid all the fuss and crowding related to the Christmas holidays.” In the ranking of the top ten countries to go to, Japan was ranked first, ahead of Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Algeria, Buddhist countries such as Thailand, and socialist countries such as China.
In the early Showa period, many cafes in Ginza, Shibuya and Asakusa prepared Christmas menus, and the staff welcomed customers dressed in Christmas costumes. On December 12, 1931, the Miyako Shinbun reported that "Christmas will come to more than 7,400 cafes, and Santa Claus will be very busy." The custom of dressing up for Christmas has survived to this day, and it is common to see cashiers in supermarkets and other shop assistants wear Santa Claus hats and other costumes during those days.
The increasingly popular celebration began to appear in the most unlikely situations. For instance, in Kato Hayabusa sentotai (Kato Hayabusa Battle Corps), a 1944 film directed by Yamamoto Kajiro, there is a scene in which a front-line dining room is decorated with a Christmas tree. The film was championed by the Ministry of War's Sponsorship and Information Bureau and went on to become the highest-grossing blockbuster of 1944. Yet, the censors did not bother to cut out a scene that clearly reminded viewers of Japan’s hated enemies and their culture.
Though, after the war, the Taisho Emperor Festival was removed from the holiday calendar, Christmas quickly established itself as an annual event whose size and importance have gradually grown to this day. In the early 1950s, in particular, the so-called baby boom led to an explosion in births, and Fujiya, a nationwide chain of confectionary stores, created the prototype of the unique Japanese Christmas cake. After that, the Christmas sales season at department stores became overheated, and Christmas became firmly established in Japan.
These days, Christmas sales are held as early as the beginning of November. Street trees are decorated with miniature light bulbs, Christmas songs are played in the stores, and Christmas cakes are sold at every pastry shop. In commercial facilities, events are held on Christmas Eve, while some families decorate their house facades and gardens with lights.
In many Western countries, December 26th is also a holiday, and the Christmas period ends on January 6th. In Japan, on the other hand, Christmas has nothing to do with religion (aside from the tiny local Christian community) and is regarded instead as a commercial event. That’s why, as soon as Christmas is over, the Japanese quickly put it behind them. The New Year's Shinto-style decorations (e.g. the bamboo-made kadomatsu) replace the old ones and retail stores display a new set of products. However, in recent years, there are places where the illuminations are left as they are until the midnight countdown of December 31st.
It is true that culture, like humor, is often lost in translation, and Christmas is no exception. According to urban legend, for instance, there was a time when a Tokyo department store got things seriously mixed up and displayed a crucified Santa Claus. On the other hand, the trend of celebrating Christmas with fast food (particularly fried chicken) is true and probably unique to Japan, and never fails to elicit amused reactions from Westerners who are used to more lavish meals. Younger couples also tend to treat the celebration as a chance to spend time with their partners. In this respect, Christmas Eve, in particular, has acquired romantic connotations. According to a 2009 survey conducted by Printemps Ginza, a Tokyo department store, on how singles spent their Christmas Eve, 53% said they had a party with their family, while the remaining 47% went on a date with their partner.
Another cultural element that is unique to Japan is Christmas Day’s connection to marriage. In the past, Japanese women were traditionally expected to marry at a young age, and ideally not older than 25. Because Christmas is celebrated on December 25th, those who were unmarried after the age of 25 were metaphorically referred to as “Christmas cakes” in reference to items that, being still unsold after the 25th, quickly lose their value. The term first became popular during the 1980s but has since become less common because many Japanese women today choose to either marry at an older age or not at all; and being still single after the age of 25 has somewhat lost much of its stigmatization.
A wonderful article, Gianni. Most enlightening.
And it reminded me a little of the insignificance of Christmas Day in other parts of the world, even here in Australia.
We live in Harris Park - located about 20km west from the Sydney CBD - and its population is primarily Indian. The main street of the suburb has been nicknamed "Little India" as there are so many Indian restaurants, sweet shops and sari stores on it.
While pretty much every business in other suburbs shut down on Christmas Day, Harris Park is alive and jumping with restaurant-goers and shoppers. It's quite amazing. Good Friday is the same. :)