Celebrating the Japanese Christmas
The Christmas season is celebrated in different ways all around the world but for Christians, some elements are common: decorating Christmas trees, hanging Christmas stockings, wreaths, candy canes, and setting up the nativity scene. During the holiday season, Christmas cards are sent out, carols sung, special religious observances like Vespers (Christmas eve midnight mass) occur, and presents are exchanged. Santa Claus is also a popular figure during the Christmas season.
Christmas market
His other names include Grandfather Frost, Christkindl, Father Christmas, and St. Nicholas. Other celebrations that occur during the season are the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Advent, St. Nicholas Day, St. Stephen’s Day, Feast of the Epiphany, and New Year’s Day.
Although Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan, it is still popular and highly anticipated. The very first documented Christmas in Japan was celebrated by Jesuit missionaries in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1552. Christianity was banned in Japan in 1612, but Christmas was still celebrated underground until the Meiji period.
The 1960s brought forth a booming economy influenced by American television shows and cinema that popularized Christmas in Japan. Songs and television shows depicted Christmas as romantic. This made Christmas a celebration of romance for many Japanese.
It’s very difficult not to catch the festive mood of the holidays. Many Japanese now decorate their homes with traditional holiday décor.
Some families even prepare turkey for Christmas dinner. The Japanese equivalent of Santa Claus is Hoeiosho, a Buddhist monk who brings Christmas presents for children. Christmas gifts are given and cards exchanged. Japanese Christians spend Christmas in worship and charitable causes, and children re-enact the Nativity. Some unique Jaspanese Christmas traditions are a Christmas cake, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and listening to Daiku (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), which is performed in many places during the holidays.
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