Christmas in Japan

Well...what a dreary Monday morning here! I'm sitting here drinking a steaming cup of hojicha (roasted green tea) and thinking of the holidays.

Everyone back home is getting ready...shopping, decorating, partying etc. Me? I just kind of pretend it doesn't exist. I hear Christmas music when I shop and eat out (sushi and Christmas music don't really match)....I even see some decorations here and there but it just isn't the same. Where I live it's green....flowers are blooming and veggies are growing....yes it's cold (ok...not like Canada but I'm not used to that anymore) but there is no snow, no feeling of Christmas in the air etc. I don't decorate my house for a few reasons and one has to do with the lack of storage space.

Here Christmas is for children or for young couples. Usually children get 1 present from their parents but that often stops around the time they start high school. Couples....Christmas is a romantic holiday and couples go out for a nice meal and Love Hotels are very busy that night or around this time of year. Yeah...I said Love hotels....Japanese homes are really small (many parents sleep with their children so no space for couple time) and you can hear everything so love hotels are a place where people can get away and .....love! Oh and all Christmas decorations come down on the 25th....weird. In Canada they don't come down until after January 1st.

Anyway Christmas is not a holiday so people go to work. My honey has to work so I will probably go shopping! At least I don't have to work...I have my "fuyu yasumi" (winter holidays) coming up so I will enjoy all 16 days off!

I'm not feeling too homesick since this is my 3rd Christmas in a row that I haven't gone home. My family sure seems to miss me not coming home but I probably will go home next year. They can spoil me then!!

Well....I should go and get ready for work.