Showing posts with label christmas in japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas in japan. Show all posts

24.3.13

Christmas in Japan

Encouraged by commerce, the secular celebration of Christmas is popular in Japan, though Christmas is not a national holiday.

Gifts are sometimes exchanged.[15]

Christmas parties are held around Christmas Day; Japanese Christmas cake, a white sponge cake covered with cream and decorated with strawberries, is often consumed.

Christmas lights decorate cities, and Christmas trees adorn living areas and malls.[15]

Christmas Eve has become a holiday for couples to spend time together[15] and exchange gifts.

A successful advertising campaign in the 1970s made eating at KFC around Christmas a national custom. Its chicken meals are so popular during the season that stores take reservations months in advance.[16]

The first recorded Christmas in Japan was a Mass held by Jesuit missionaries in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1552.
 
The birthday of the current emperor, Akihito, on December 23 is a national holiday.