So I`ve found out that on Xmas day I will be working between 10.50 and 18.30. At least I finish early so I can get online and speak to the family and Katie at a reasonable time for everyone. I`ve not really thought much about having to work on Christmas day, my first time every but I guess it`s just for this one time. I`m trying not to think too much about it, otherwise I will get highly depressed at having to work and not being with my family. I`m gonna get a santa hat and wear it on Christmas day, make those students who come in feel guilty about making me work!! (and to spread some christmas cheer of course!).
Christmas day should be the last day I work before the Nova shutdown. It starts on the 27th and ends on the 4th of January so I get about 9 days off which should be nice. Katie comes out on the 28th so I will be spending boxing day cleaning the flat from top to bottom and getting rid of all the crap that a certain flatmate has helped to accumulate.
I have asked the students about Christmas, how it`s celebrated in Japan and they all seem to agree that its a public celebration and not really a private one. They seemed to have adopted some of the customs, such as present giving and having turkey, but most people dont have trees or decorations. Some houses I`ve seen do go overboard and have impressive lights outside their houses, some pics will be on Flickr soon. KFC`s colonel has become the metaphor for Santa, a strange mix of commericalisation and tradition, one that seems unusual to us but it was Coca-Cola who decided Father Christmas would have a red outfit, so I guess it`s just an extension of that. Click here to see Santa Colonel.
New Year should be good, I`ve been trying to ask the students where to go but to no avail. They keep telling me that New Year is normally a time for families to go to Shrines and Temples or to stay at home together. I`m hoping that there will be somewhere with the whole Times Square New York feel, having a countdown and a big public celebration but I guess that might not be possible. I guess I`ll just have to make do with New Year in Tokyo, which is cool enough in itself. Anything else is going to be a bonus.
mata ne! またね！
[...] Japan’s Christmas is a funny beast; gaijin blogs are awash with tales of KFC being the ultimate Xmas meal, Xmas cake being a strawberry cream sponge, Xmas Eve as a night at the love hotel, and of course Christmas Day being just another day in the office. How close these popular images reflect reality will now be revealed! [...]
By: How the Japanese spend Christmas: part 1 of 2 » 世論 What Japan Thinks - Japanese Opinion Polls, Marketing Data and Japanese Market Research Translated into English on December 15, 2006
at 2:45 pm