To me, "Christmas" means spending time with family. It means eating a Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies, and cranberry sauce. It means opening presents on New Years Eve after dinner. It means being in that all-encompassing festive atmosphere during the Christmas holidays and having warm memories of Christmas from my childhood.

This being my first Christmas in Japan (I was in Vietnam last year) I was pretty excited to see how the Japanese spend their Christmas. But in Japan, what does "Christmas" mean? Two Things: KFC and Christmas cake. Christmas in Japan is more of a novelty holiday, like St. Patrick's day or Valentines day back in Canada. They aren't really "holidays" per se (since it's not a national holiday), but it's one of those fun holidays where it's fine if you don't actually do anything for it. In Japan, it's somehow become tradition (I have a feeling through clever marketing) to eat KFC for Christmas, which is the closest you can get to proper turkey in Japan. I'm not sure where the Christmas cake tradition came from but it's normally a strawberry-flavored sponge cake that's eaten between lovers on Christmas Eve. There's an old saying in Japan that if you are older than 25 (the date of Christmas Eve) and still unmarried, you are a "Christmas cake" meaning you get old and stale the longer you leave it past the 25th! This year I celebrated Christmas Eve Japanese style. I went snowboarding at amazing Asahidake (2 days after opening) for untouched, waist-deep powder. Amazing! That night I made a stop by KFC intending to get some fried chicken but got a huge line-up instead, so I just got a picture with the Kernel and left empty-handed. I ended up getting cold, fried chicken after a stop at Seicomart (a convenience store). I wasn't intending to, but how could you pass up that Christmas packaging! I also picked up some other things for a complete, well-balance Christmas dinner:

Mmmm.. Tim Tams, Cheeza, canned coffee, hot chocolate, and gyudon. I wanted to get some Christmas cake but that stuff is hella expensive, so I opted for pastries instead. Also, for the record, the beer wasn't mine. I ended up hanging out with my friend Nicole and watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas while she wrapped last-minute presents and listened to Christmas reggae music. It was probably the most bizarre Christmas Eve I've ever had! It was justified because the next evening, on Christmas Day, I went to my friend Caroline's house where she had ordered in turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce... a proper Christmas dinner! I hadn't had turkey in over two years so I stuffed myself like I was going into hibernation. Overall, not what I was used to but a fun Christmas nonetheless. I'm still undecided where I'll be having Christmas next year, whether it's in Japan or back in Canada.. Hmm, どうしようかな？

Also, a little belated but, Happy Christmas everyone!