The next two weeks you probably will not hear much from me, because I am going on a big journey from tomorrow! Fabian, Miriam, and I will go to Tokyo for one week, then we will travel down to Oita within another one week. After Tokyo we will go to Nagoya, Nara, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto (probably only for sleeping), and Hiroshima. On New Year's Eve we plan to be back in the Kaikan in order to celebrate with the other Kaikan people.
One quick word to Christmas: I asked some Japanese how they celebrate Christmas. As this country is not mainly Catholic I suppose Christmas does not have any religious meaning. Christmas has found its way pretty early into Japanese culture. My academic advisor, who is in his late fourties or early fifties told me that he celebrated Christmas when he was a kid. He told me that it was also due to the Americans after the war who established the custom of celebrating Christmas in Japan. Christmas is more of a commercial event here I'd say. It is not a national holiday, everyone goes to work. And Christmas is only on December 24th. The 25th and 26th are not considered Christmas anymore. So although in the city there is Christmas decoration everywhere and Christmas music playing in every department store, there is nothing behind it really. People are encouraged to buy presents, consume and do some good for the economy, but it does not have any special meaning for Japanese families.
Many of the Japanese students who I asked do not do anything special with their family except eating cake. Often they do not even exchange gifts with their family members. Giving presents on Christmas is more common for Japanese parents with little kids. Students rather give some gifts to their friends. Actually, Christmas seems to be a huge day for romantic dates! If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you should spend the evening with them.
I also asked some Japanese how a Christmas dinner in Japan looks like. But there does not seem to have evolved a certain custom except for eating cake on that day. So no big roast or any other special dish on that day.
But New Year's Eve seems to be the more important day in Japan. I will tell about it later when I have found out more.
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Have nice weeks! :-)
ReplyDeletePerhaps we'll have white Chrismas here, today is "already" -2 degree...
Lucky the Dog still liked to go out and play ball, but after a half of hour, she suddently looked deep in my eyes and showed me - with her frozen nose - the way back, , and then she ran and ran and ran ... home. A really hight speed race, without looking left and right, as usual... :-)
When Lucky runs home instead of playing, then it must be really cold.
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