Christmas in Japan: A Reference Tool (+video & article links!)
I wanted to bring this up for the holiday season because the topic itself is interesting to me. It’s fascinating to see other cultures take traditionally Western holidays like Christmas and make it unique to their country.
This is something that people don’t really seem to think about, especially in terms of roleplaying (inaccurate) holiday scenarios like:
Making Japanese characters go trick-or-treating on Halloween [excluding rare instances with small children at public events, people don’t do this. Especially not teenagers/adults, and especially not ‘door-to-door.’]
Japanese characters having a “traditional” Christmas dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. Basically everything left over from Thanksgiving.)
Japanese characters disregarding the custom of girls giving gifts to guys on Valentine’s Day (February 14th), and guys giving gifts to girls on. White Day (March 14th.)
For starters, the most predominant religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism. The percentage of Christians in Japan is incredibly low. That being said, Japan isn’t a “Christian country.”
Christmas is seen from a different perspective than in Western countries (for instance, the U.S.) because the Japanese don’t care about the religion involved.
That being said, Christmas is not a national holiday. This means that people are still expected to go to school and work (this year Christmas falls on a Friday.) Because of that, Christmas is more typically celebrated on the 24th.
[However, what is a national holiday is December 23rd, the current emperor’s birthday (Emperor Akihito.)]
In America, Christmas is seen as a very family-oriented holiday--but in Japan, it’s all about the romance. Romance and happiness, more specifically.
and consumer commercialism but that’s literally everywhere so that’s nothing special
Much like Japan commandeering Valentine’s Day in addition to their established White Day, Christmas in Japan has become a lover’s day. It’s a night for couples to:
go to expensive restaurants
go on romantic walks through the generously decorated streets.
It’s a day for “celebrating” your love and your lover
And for those who are without a significant other around Christmas time, those people tend to hang out with friends to make the holiday season a bit more bearable.
Also, if you’re looking for what the “traditional” Christmas dinner in Japan is, the answer is Kentucky Fried Chicken.
What started as a promotional stunt in the 1970′s (which was basically KFC telling the Japanese public ‘yes, this is what people in the West eat on Christmas.’) has become an... accepted tradition, basically. It’s so popular that people often have to call in and reserve their “Christmas bucket” days or weeks in advance.
To give a visual representation, this is the closest thing to a genuine Japanese Christmas song. It sums up basically everything I’ve mentioned above, so enjoy.
Xmas? I Don’t Know Such a Thing by Hyadain
While Christmas isn’t a national holiday, New Year’s Day in Japan is incredibly important. This is where people go to shrines and pray and leave offerings in hopes of a better new year (as seen at the end of the video.)
Also, here are some video references from YouTube vloggers who live in Japan:
Experience JAPAN with YUKA - “Christmas in JAPAN (Japan Travel Guide)”
Abroadin Japan - “KFC Christmas Japan: A delicious alternate reality”
Texan in Tokyo (Skip to 5:28) - “Christmas in Japan VS America”
Japan with Regan - Christmas Day in Japan (How the Japanese celebrate)
Lastly, here are a few snazzy articles that go into a little more detail:
I hope I provided enough sources to give a clearer idea of how Christmas is and isn’t celebrated in Japan.
UPDATE: I made a separate post on the Japanese New Year over [here.]
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