Merry Christmas from Japan.
Erin and I are hopping on a night bus to Tokyo 15 minutes after I get out of work, and from there we`ll be hopping around the country for a week, so it`s not looking like I`m going to be able to make Christmas phone calls like I`d hoped. So I just wanted to drop a quick note to everyone and let you know that we`re thinking about you all and miss you all somethin terrible, especially on this day.
As I write this Santa is making the rounds in North America finally. He was here about twelve hours ago but he didn`t leave much for anyone from what I can gather. Something about his sleigh being full of stuff for the Americans.
I, on the other hand, am, for the first time, ringing in a bright and cheery Christmas morning here in my office at school. In fact, I celebrated Christmas this morning by giving out the gift of As on about 25 essays I needed to finish grading before the break. I felt rather cheery about that.
That`s not to say that there`s been no Christmas celebration in Japan. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Japanese do Christmas like they do so many Western traditions that have taken hold throughout the country: on Speed. As early as mid-October shelves at the local Mr. Max (think Wal-Mart with udon and a cuter pet store) started filling up with what I guessed were the Christmas decorations that Chinese companies couldn`t sell to America last year (the stuff that even the people with blow up Snow Globes in their yards think of as tacky). The rule of thumb seems to be that if it doesn`t somehow max out all of the five senses, it`s not good enough for Christmas.
After weeks of anticipation we finally got to see all of these Christmas decorations in their full glory on Wednesday night when we attended a "choir concert" that one of Erin`s students was singing in. We forgot our camera, and that will go down as the single greatest regret in my entire life because it`s never been more true that there simply are NO words. I mean I could tell you that at one point, at this Christmas choir concert, a Jimi Hendrix cover was sandwiched between two Eric Clapton songs, played by a local band named 2theMax, while a pirate clown with green dreads danced with a cross dressing chubby kid in a red halter top, both of whom seemed to be part of clown troupe led by the night`s MC/photographer who was wearing a brown dog mask. I could tell you that, but would it really help you understand the experience of Christmas in Japan? No.
I will tell you, however, that I think December 23 will go down as the day in this adventure where my feelings for Japan finally started to resemble less of a confused, timid fear and moreso a deep abiding appreciation for strangeness.
Well, I`m off to try and make some final preparations. We`re meeting family in Tokyo in 24 hours! That, I think, will probably never be a true sentence again in my life. From there it`s on to Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and, the highlight of every tourist`s Japanese adventure, Yanai, Yamaguchi, Japan.
Merry Christmas and happy New Year! Ariel says Hi and Japan sounds crazy. Take care. Much love!
ReplyDeletewow. some things in japan sound so similar to what happens in korea, except japan has 20x more budget to make everything 20x more outrageous.
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