Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Did Christmas in Japan Become A Thing? [2018-12-24]
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jdnation
Posts: 1998 |
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Now this is interesting! And makes sense considering Christians have been in Japan for 100s of years despite being a minority, and Japan has also had cultural importation from Russia and Europe long before Americans were on their shores. And even then, we have the wrong impression that Japan is somehow completely isolated from other cultures until WWII happened, which naturally is wrong. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Can't recall the anime, but there's one line where the characters say "Well, yes, the West has their own different Christmas traditions, but in Japan, we celebrate it our own way." (Oh, I'm sorry we foreigners get YOUR Christmas wrong...) There's the impression that they look at Westerners celebrating Christmas without cakes, dates or Extra-Crispy with the same quaint expression as they'd look at an anime fan convention trying to throw their own Tanabata or Hinamatsuri party.
You mean one of the former East Europe bloc, where jolly white-bearded "Father Frost" delivers the presents to the kids on New Year's? The State can try to keep out Christmas, but they can't keep out the kids' belief in Santa.
It's basically what Scrooge found out: A little goodwill-to-man will never hurt, even if you do happen to be "smarter" than every other happily deluded "fool" with "Merry Christmas" on his lips. And one day's vacation every year from telling them that won't kill you either. |
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Compelled to Reply
Posts: 358 |
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Decorating the front of one's house with Christmas lights is mainly a post-war American thing which came out of rampant suburbanization (think white picket fence and ranch house), whereas in Europe and Japan there has always been less space. While people might decorate their terraces and entryways, that's really about it. Large-scale Christmas lights are however probably the most famous aspect of Christmas in Japan, years before World War II, KFC, etc. Major department stores and municipalities would light up all the trees along main boulevards and in public space. What helped this catch on was likely its parallels to the Japanese pastime of "hanami" (viewing cherry blossoms), and attitude of Western modernity and romanticism. You could say the same about lights year-round, such as in Tokyo's Ginza and Shibuya, Osaka's and Dōtonbori.
It's not just Christmas. Even further back, when Japanese settled the archipelago, they adopted aspects of the indigenous peoples' pagan-like religion, and later syncretism with the arrival of Buddhism, created the basis of Shinto.
Except maybe presents? Unless you consider cake and confectionery as presents, people might only exchange one or two presents, especially significant others. Speaking of which, I'm actually surprised the "sex on Christmas" troupe you see quite a lot in anime hasn't been mentioned. Also, Manhattan is the least Christian part of the Western world? Maybe it's one of the least Christian in America on the grounds of irreligion, but hardly in the Western world. Last edited by Compelled to Reply on Wed Dec 26, 2018 8:59 pm; edited 5 times in total |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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Yeah, that's the same problem here as well, except we don't celebrate Halloweeen either, at least not the way North America, UK and Japan does, so, the Christmas atmosphere, especially in stores, is starting in October and sometimes even in September. But then again, it may not be necessarily bad thing, since it will remind you not to buy your Christmas presents on a last time, when there are the biggest crowds in stores LOL
Yup, that one. The Czech Republic, to be more accurate. Though here it was "Ježíšek" (Little Jesus or Christkind) that was (unsuccessfully, needless to say) tried to be replaced by Russian Father Frost. After the revolution in 1989 Ježíšek returned back to mainstream popularity, though nowadays it is once again threatened to be replaced by Santa Claus, but that's for another story |
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