January 05, 2004 - Holidays & Holy Spots

January 05, 2004

Christmas in Japan

Like America, Japan has several national holidays, days where the people don't have to work. Christmas isn't one of them (although the Emperor's birthday, the day before Christmas Eve, is). All the same, Japan has its own way of recognizing Christmas. All the department stores are guilded with wreaths and fake sprigs of pine. Many Christmas trees in Japan are hung with a small golden sign that reads "Merry Christmas." People stop and admire one of the Christmas trees set up along the main drag in Ginza. Every restaurant seems to play a mix of Christmas music created no earlier than 1950.

While all this is not too dissimilar from the States, there are some surprising differences. Ask just about any Japanese what they do on Christmas, and the first answer will probable be, "Eat Christmas cake!" This practice is almost universal, and the cakes themselves almost always consist of white frosting and strawberries, with a Santa or some similar thing on top. By Christmas eve, every bakery, department store, and convenient store has a barker on the street, hocking christmas cakes at all the passers-by.

The Christmas dinner of choice is invariably some form of chicken (KFC must make a killing). Turkeys are nearly unheard of, and egg nog is non-existent. "Egg nog?! Heehhhh?!!" (Of course, egg is an ingredient to be found in nearly every other food in Japan).

Given that most Japanese are traditionally believe a mix of Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism (the country is about 1% Christian), it's not surprising that such things as nativity scenes are nowhere to be found. When asked what they think Americans do on Christmas, many will reply, "Go to church." Of course many Americans, both Christian and not, might raise an eyebrow to this answer, but it shows that the Japanese are not totally unaware of the Christian roots of the holiday.

The Forest Temples of Nikko

Nikko is one of the most popular day trips from Tokyo, and also one of the most popular places to observe the colors of Fall. Nikko is about two hours north of Tokyo on the Tobu-Nikko line. It's host to a series of temples and shrines, and one could easily take a couple of days to explore it and the surrounding areas (which include lakes, waterfalls, and onsens (hot springs)).

For about ¥1000 ($10) each, we obtained a pass to see five of the most visited temples and shrines in Nikko. We brought comfortable walking shoes with us, which was a good thing, considering the amount of walking involved going from temple to temple. Most of the eateries in town seemed to be overpriced, so we sated our hunger with some onigiri (rice balls) from the local convenient store.

Nikko was originally founded by a Buddhist monk in 776 A.D. Since then, several temples have been founded in the area. One of the most famous of these is the Toshogu shrine which houses the remains of Ieyasu Tokugawa. The temples of Nikko represent the artistic and architectural styles of several different eras.

Since Nikko is laden with historical and spiritual significance for the Japanese, it's a popular fieldtrip destination for school children as well. It's not uncommon to see a small river of yellow-capped children come walking along. And we found out that we were as much of an attraction to them as Nikko was to us (we caught a few of them trying to sneak pictures of us).