A Different Christmas

It’s not Christmas time yet, but I decided to write about my Christmas experience in Japan for this month’s matsuri hosted by mokudekiru.com:

ちょっと違う (Chotto Chigau)
or…“Not Quite the Same”

Christmas in the West is usually spent with the family. Although it’s a Christian holiday, Japan dropped the religious meaning and adopted Christmas as an occasion to meet friends and have a party and/or go on a date. With all the romantic decorations and light-ups created everywhere around Christmas time, there are plenty of places to go to. I experienced both when I spent a year in Osaka.

First, my host mum invited me to her Christmas party she had with friends. She prepared a lot of food which was delicious but none of it was specific Christmas food. It could have been just any party with friends. The only thing that reminded of Christmas was a fake Christmas tree in the garden. A friend of my host mum later brought what made the party a “real” Christmas party: Christmas cake. Any kind of cake is okay for a Japanese Christmas cake as long as it is decorated with strawberries.                                                                                                                           

There was even a small cake for my host mum’s dog! Of course, this cake was decorated like a real Christmas cake but I don’t know what it was made of. It was designed for dogs so no real cake or strawberries…

After the party, I went to meet my boyfriend for dinner and took a stroll beneath the illuminated trees of Nakanoshima. I think, I had a very Japanese Christmas that year 🙂