Tokyo, December, cold and sunny, every departments store cheerfully decorated in Red Green and White Christmas decorations, a Christmas tree, 15 meter high springs up in Hachiko square… Christmas jewelry for sale, Christmas carols played over loud speakers in the shopping streets, what a celebration.
And my friends... well, obviously, they're all excited about Christmas. "So, what about you and Christmas?". "Me… I don't celebrate… I'm Jewish…" I tell them. "So?!" came back the puzzled replies… what's one got to do with the other?
It took me a few days longer of trying to explain why us Jews don't celebrate the birth of the Christian Christ until someone finally explained it to me… in Japan, and this I knew, they pick the fun parts out of stuff and adapt it to Japan. In addition, the Japanese New year has been set to January 1st, when everyone goes back to their hometowns, to their families and has a traditional Japanese new year celebration. This makes Christmas the perfect time for celebrating with friends before you go home, and most importantly – it's the day to have a DATE! Yep, if you're home alone on Christmas it's like not having a date for the prom…
All my LoVe and merry Christmas !
Hila.
