Xmas Tokyo Style
This year was my first Xmas away from home. I took this fairly random sample of photos as I flaneured around Tokyo. Everything is open, all the shops, all the department stores, it’s just a normal trading day. The streets were no less busy than a normal Sunday. Christmas (as a Christian celebration) is of negligible significance here. Despite the people in prominent locations with yellow placards proclaiming the true significance of Christmas to the “heathen hoards,” the vast majority of Japanese subscribe to Shinto and Buddhist beliefs, or none at all. However, Xmas is, as in the West, a kind of commercialism festival and in Japan it has its own certain symbols. For instance, Xmas food in Japan is KFC chicken and strawberry shortcake. The iconography seems to be British and/or Eastern European. The normal heavy Christmas cakes, puddings, and mince pies that we associate with Christmas are absent. Nevertheless, between two cultures, I was able to scrounge together something that felt like Xmas and do a little shopping along the way! Here’s the photos.
