Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Did Christmas in Japan Become A Thing? [2018-12-24]
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Gurren Rodan
 Posts: 263 |
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Eh, I think it adds to the humorous irony of Japanese celebrating a "religious" holiday that's not even remotely related to their native religions. |
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Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
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The same could be said about Americans, to be fair. Millions of non-religious people celebrate Christmas every year; my family included. - Stuart Smith |
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jdnation
Posts: 1998 |
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I wonder what KFC chicken in Japan is like.
In India, it's different than what you get in North America, legs are smaller, plus with a different flavour. I imagine Japan's KFC Chicken is also slightly different.
This common, ignorant and silly anti-Christian misconception again? Sigh... I'll just put this here. Was Christ Born on December 25? Yes! (Dr Marshall #195) from New Saint Thomas Institute https://youtu.be/b7nuX2F_Cpo |
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ericarreza
Posts: 83 |
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If anyone who doesn't knew about Christmas in Japan, here's an info. Did you know that the 1st Christmas celebration there was in the year 1549 when a Portuguese Jesuit priest, St. Francis Xavier went to Japan to introduce Christianity but with a little success: https://tokyocheapo.com/travel/holidays/christmas-japan-timeline/
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Kamieichi
 Posts: 53 |
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Actually it had already before WW II. According to wikipedia (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/クリスマス#歴史), it was widely accepted in 1900 triggered by Christmas business. In 1928 it spread enough that Asashi shimbun newspaper stated "Christmas is now a Japan's yearly event and Santa Claus has become a thing among Japanese children". Also, from a scene set in 1934 of Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In This Corner Of The World), which is famous for being made based on director Sunao Katabuchi's detailed history research. 
Last edited by Kamieichi on Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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LuScr
Posts: 140 |
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Pretty much every part of this rant is wrong--the December 25 date is drawn primarily from when certain events took place by the Jewish calendar, the corresponding Roman pagan holiday is not Saturnalia but Sol Invictus, and Sol Invictus was instituted much later (very likely as an attempt by the pagans to co-opt Christmas)--and it has nothing to do with the original ANN article. Other than that, though, thanks for sharing. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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My understanding has been that they tend to celebrate Christmas Eve the same way we celebrate New Years Eve, and they tend to celebrate New Years Day the way we celebrate Christmas Day. More or less.
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OjaruFan2
Posts: 661 |
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I'd like to try doing that one year. |
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SWAnimefan
Posts: 634 |
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Another line of anthropological thinking is that Romans (like the Japanese) integrated the practice into their culture and not the Christians who appropriated a Pagan festival. Same with the Dutch and Germans who integrated their culture into Christmas and birthed the Christmas we know today. Because the origins of Christmas was birthed from simple gift giving of Nicholas of Patara, Turkey in giving to the needy and later became fast-spreading practice. It wasn't adopted until Emperor Constantine 336 declared the day of celebration and a year later the Pope declared it the birthdate of Jesus. So to say that the Christians stole a Pagan holiday is wrong when it was the Pagan Romans themselves that transformed the holiday. Just like modern day Japan who took a Christian holiday and made it their own. So the Japanese adaptation of Christmas gives us valuable insight into how Christmas became Christmas. No matter who originated the practice, no matter what, it's a time to be happy and be good to one another. |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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As someone who is from very Atheistic country, where Comunists in past tried (with varied success) to change Christmas to Atheistic event where they wanted people to buy as much as possible to help not that good economy and to show we actually has something on the shelves (when in fact a lot of goods were scarce), I may assure you that what Japans did with Christmas is still tame to what happened here. But the thing is that even many Atheists here still celebrate Christmas as a family holidays, event where family is supposed to be together (pretty much like Thanksgiving in US, I guess). And that, in itself, is not bad thing, to be honest.
I remember there were Digimon Christmas album where the main characters (actually their seiyuu, but you've got the point) were singing Christmas songs in Japanese. I think it was released to promote that Zero Two Christmas World Tour, which actually took three episodes, all premiered in January LOL |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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If ya think Xmas celebratory atmosphere is too early right after Thanksgiving, in Japan all that Xmas cheer starts right after Halloween.
Since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, there's nothing between Halloween and Xmas, so get used to all those Xmas songs in your head. 
And if it wasn't for Halloween, Xmas could begin even in September. Heck, stores in Japan start selling Halloween paraphernalia by August, right after Obon holiday. 
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ericarreza
Posts: 83 |
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Since today is Christmas, I would like to share this to you & I'd found this drawing on Facebook lately from an Inuyasha fan. I'd posted it on my twitter account so I'll give you a link: https://twitter.com/ericarreza/status/1077495828867014656
So what do you think? Merry Christmas everyone! 
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Fenrin
 Posts: 695 Location: SoCal |
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When I have my own family I'd like to try making KFC dinner a Christmas tradition
 , since I'm not too fond of big family get-togethers or large, elaborate feasts. It's a nice break from the stress that comes with the holiday season.
What I want to know is how prevalent Christmas lights decorations are in Japan. I imagine no one probably decorates the front of their houses with them, but are they common on city storefronts or perhaps inside kids' rooms? Do they come in a range of colors or are they just the innocuous warm yellow/white kind? |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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Merry Christmahanukwanzaa, everyone!
Or just Happy Festivus, for the rest of us!
People don't decorate their houses with lights (or sync it to music and put it on Youtube ) except expats, but to make up for it, many places of attraction go all-out decking anything and everything in LED lights
 
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7jaws7
 Posts: 704 Location: New York State |
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Yup, and Samurai Champloo kind of had an episode about him, albeit spoiler[it was really an imposter ]
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