For me, the December holiday season is a time of merriment, exchanging of gifts, and spending time with family. Christmas, and the month or so leading up to it was heralded by the Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) sales, a scramble to find every gift on my family’s list, hanging decorations, singing carols, watching the Hallmark specials, all culminating in a full day inside with family and a home-cooked dinner. While I knew this way of celebrating was not universal, even within the United States, the way Japan has co-opted Christmas is truly fascinating. Q3 is a key time of the year for many companies’ bottom line, so understanding how Japan celebrates Christmas is vital to success during the most wonderful time of the year!
Origins
It is understandable that the Christian background and significance of Christmas is lost on a people whose country is rooted in Buddhist and Shinto practices. While Christianity first arrived with Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, its strict persecution during the Edo period (1603-1868) kept it from any cultural significance. It would not be until the post-war restoration period under the United States that Christmas would gain any major foothold in Japan, not as a religious holiday, but as a Western holiday. The “spectacle” of Christmas is more important than any importance to the day itself, much similar to the desire of many Japanese brides to get married in a veil and gown at a chapel. Japan’s syncretization and secularization of holidays and practices is not new. Traditions like going to temple within the first month of the year and cleaning the gravestones of ancestors are deeply rooted in Buddhism, yet Japan still remains among the most non-religious countries in the world. The clean break between following tradition and religious belief has made Japan an ideal location to distill Christmas to a purely commercial essence.
That essence is on full display come November 1st. With no Thanksgiving to buffer it, and no nationwide festivities for November, Japanese retail reaches all the way to December 25th for an occasion to use for promotion, and I swear they reach from further and further away each year. My local station began putting up their Christmas tree in mid-October. But what does Christmas in Japan look like?
Light Displays:
At the core of Japanese Christmas is the light display or illumination (イルミネーション). Any town square or major station usually sets up a display of lights, tree optional, for all passersby to enjoy, and the switching on of these lights heralds the beginning of the holiday season. Boasting a high population density and urban centralization, these displays are usually sufficient decoration for an area; most Japanese do not hook up their own Christmas lights outside their house and interior decoration is sparse, especially if the household does not have any young children. The lights are on by December 1st at the latest and remain on until well into January. It’s worth mentioning the designs and colors often used for display. Instead of specific Christmas imagery, many public displays opt for more of a “winter” theme. Blues and whites over reds and greens. Stars and snowflakes over jingle bells and candy canes. Despite the display period being centered around Christmas, several could last until February without any loss of context.
Christmas Villages:
Christmas Villages are the one aspect of Japanese Christmas with stronger European influence than American. A Christmas Village is the name often given to a market or plaza that pops up in December. Unlike typical Japanese festivals, the food and drink served are often Western-usually German. Small shops usually sell stollen, mulled wine, hot chocolate, or other treats. Outside of food, hand-crafted ornaments, snowglobes, Christmas-themed ceramics and other trinkets are often available. Larger Christmas Villages will have scheduled events for children or live musical performances.
End of the Year Party:
The end of the year party or bounenkai (忘年会) is not directly related to Christmas, but just so happens to coincide with the period. These year-end parties are often organized by companies as a bonding opportunity between coworkers. Club sports or larger friend groups may also organize private year-end parties as a final meetup. These parties are typically held at traditional Japanese bar/eateries known as izakayas with drinks and finger food. It is not uncommon for a popular izakaya to be fully booked all the way to the new year with large parties, and more active people can find themselves stretched to attend multiple year-end parties in a short amount of time.
Fried Chicken:
Ask any Japanese person what food they most associate with Christmas and 9 times out of 10, they will answer fried chicken. This is the legacy of a successful marketing ploy by KFC and its Japanese enterprising manager, Takeshi Okawara, back in the 70’s. With the 1974 slogan “Kentucky is Christmas!” (ケンタッキーはクリスマス!), Japanese people created a link between the holiday and a bucket of drumsticks (it probably helps that Colonel Sanders isn’t a far cry from Santa Claus). Even now, people make reservations for a bucket of chicken at their local KFC as early as November, and wait in line on Christmas day to receive their spoils. I have personally been asked multiple times by Japanese people if I eat fried chicken at Christmas, and it’s a pity to see the look of disappointment or disbelief on their faces when I say no. Regardless, KFC is proof of the influence of marketing in Japan, especially in regards to holiday seasons.
Christmas Cake:
Along with the chicken, cake is often on the menu for Japanese Christmas. Highly stylized store-bought cakes are consumed on Christmas Eve, with the most popular flavor being strawberry shortcake with heaps of whipped cream, naturally matching the colors of a Santa hat. Christmas cakes predate even the fried chicken tradition, with the company Fujiya first selling them to foreigners in the Kanto region in 1910 before shifting their focus to Japanese consumers after the first World War. With better refrigeration and cheaper prices, the cakes became a Japanese Christmas staple in the 1960s with a wide range of options from the artisanal cakes in Ginza department stores to humble slices in 7-11 dessert shelves.
Something missing?
Sparkling lights, good alcohol, and rich foods are enjoyable pieces of the Japanese Christmas experience, and not too far removed from their origin. An astute reader may notice a few vital pieces lacking from the Christmas experience, which I’d like to touch upon:
Where’s the family?
Christmas, despite its month-long fanfare, is not actually an important holiday in Japan. The largest obstacle to that is Christmas is not a bank holiday. Parents have to work, and children, even if they’re on winter break, may have club activities or other extracurricular commitments to attend. In part due to this, and to the romanticizing of Christmas in movies, the celebration of Christmas is less connected to family, and more associated with a boyfriend or girlfriend. A young couple will head to see the light decorations or enjoy a Christmas Village together, and spend Christmas day together if possible, but otherwise the day feels less like Christmas and more like December 25th.
Where are the gifts?
Gift-giving culture is a very prominent and special art in Japan. It is surprising that gift exchanges are not more common on Christmas. Yet for Japan, gifts are not bound to a specific holiday, but vary on the occasion. Visiting someone’s home, returning from travel, celebrating a graduation, etc. Gifts are still exchanged during Christmas, and the market reacts with seasonal specials and sales, but the duty to exchange gifts on Christmas is nowhere as strong as a culture like America.
Where’s the charity?
I have vivid memories of food drives and Salvation Army personnel dressed in Santa hats standing outside supermarkets ringing bells and requesting donations towards one cause or another. For America, Christmas is the season of giving, and the moral of several movies try their hardest to drive that point home. That message falls on mostly deaf ears in Japan. But that’s not Christmas’ fault. For several reasons, donating is not a common practice in Japan. One, as we touched on, is Japan’s lack of religious sentiment. Altruism and the idea of giving back is a strong cultural norm in the US. Japan would not only be at odds with putting pressure on the individual to give but would also feel great discomfort in forcing an individual to receive. Looking back at the examples of gifting occasions, there is a clear thread to elucidate. Presenting a gift when visiting someone’s home is a show of appreciation for their hospitality. Bringing souvenirs back to the office after traveling is a partial apology for leaving coworkers to pick up any slack. Graduation gifts are rewards for a job well done. In each instance, the theoretic scales of social obligation are balanced.
Therein lies the opportunity for effective charitable and nonprofit activity in Japan. Presenting charity not as a one-sided service, but as an exchange, would be a potentially effective method for improved charitable action in Japan.
If not Christmas, then when?
While Western countries put the familial emphasis primarily on Christmas, Japan’s major winter customs revolve around properly bringing in the new year. Japanese people typically have a quiet, somber New Year’s at home with family, and there are a handful of traditions that occur between the final hours of the previous year and the first few days of the next. More details can be found here.
Conclusion
The relatively recent shifts to Japan’s Christmas show how much these traditions can still be molded and changed from generation to generation. Even now, for example, with the wide prevalence of micro-celebrities and online influencers, a new culture of Christmas or year-end livestreams is increasing among young people who don’t have any special someone to spend the holidays with. What other new advancements in the celebratory culture of Japan will appear?
It is the duty and pleasure of us at Uism to follow these trends and longitudinal changes in every aspect of Japan, from the emerging values around spending holidays to the purchasing and gifting habits. Our UX researchers excel not only in our experience with tracing and understanding Japanese trends but analyzing and presenting such trends in a way easily relatable to a Western audience. Please feel free to get in touch, we are available year-round for any of your business’ UX research needs and inquiries!
Here’s wishing you a safe and happy holidays from all of us at Uism!
Sincerely,
Ross
About the Author
Ross Miller
Ross utilized his background in languages and East Asian cultures to improve academic and business practices across Japan. He recently acquired his MBA in Business Leadership and Innovation, with a focus in systems thinking, design, and social business. A professional “bridge builder” in diversity management, he wishes to utilize those talents as the perfect liaison in international UX research. Though only spending 5 years in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, he’s picked up the habits and accent enough to be mistaken for half-Kyushuan on several occasions.