Do They Know T'Was Christmas Time at All?

Monday December 26th 2005
Though its Boxing Day,only one day after Christmas Day,all the decorations have vanished.Done.Sales figures and targets met or exceeded.Or not.Onward to the New Year.More sales.More bargains.
The Christian message behind Christmas is lost, no buried, in the commerical splurge of the festive frenzy.Its a very important season.One source calculated its worth about ¥700 billion to the Japanese economy.

Christmas wasnt widely celebrated in Japan until about 100 years ago.At first trees and decorations appeared in trendy parts of Tokyo such as Ginza.By the 1920's the holiday had become an annual festival even in rural areas.
Christmas acts as a prelude to the more important New Year festivals.In fact Christmas Eve seems to be more important than Christmas Day itself.Especially with couples.
Some original Japanese traditions include expensive Christmas Eve dates and presents along with the eating of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Christmas cake.A local firm Fujiya started the cake eating trend way back in 1911.

My Christmas Day.
Pretty uneventful.Christmas Day here isnt a public holiday neither is the 26th.I worked.After work I went to a nearby sushi restaurant.Just another day for most of the students.The regular Sunday students appeared as usual.

We finish up for the year tomorrow,Tuesday 27th.Back on Jan5th.Eight days.To read.To relax.Catch up on some overdue paper mache projects.Maybe catch a movie.Unfortunately many public facilities such as gardens,galleries and museums are closed over the break.So no real plans.
Plus its still darn cold.Last Thursday we had another dumping of snow.About 12cm.Was fun crunching through it on the way home on foot.Abandoned my bike as too dangerous and slippery to ride.
People huddling and shuffling together like so many penguins on the train platforms as the snow threatened to bury them....