Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan.\u00a0 Nevertheless, some people still find time to celebrate Christmas, even after a long day at work.\u00a0 The Japanese have a tendency to take a tradition and make it uniquely their own.\u00a0 Some of the things that I’m going to mention in this post are going to sound strange to some people, but like any culture that comes in contact with another culture, tweaking things here and there is only natural.<\/p>\n
For example, instead of a turkey or ham dinner, Japanese people like to buy fried chicken from KFC for Christmas.\u00a0 Why KFC?\u00a0 It’s a clever marketing strategy run by the KFC corporation\u00a0in Japan.\u00a0 Sometimes I’ll walk by the KFC\u00a0restaurants\u00a0and\u00a0discover to my shock, that people are waiting in line\u00a0for some KFC chicken.\u00a0\u00a0Don’t get me wrong, I\u00a0like KFC, but I don’t exactly associate Christmas with KFC.\u00a0\u00a0I suspect though, some people are confused with the image of Colonel Sanders as being the same person as Santa Claus.\u00a0 (Pronounced as Santa Kuroosu (\u30b5\u30f3\u30bf\u30af\u30ed\u30fc\u30b9<\/strong>) in Japanese.)\u00a0 Both are elderly Caucaisan men, so they must be the same person, right?<\/p>\n In the American tradition, Santa Claus is the bearer of gifts for children who have behaved well all throughout the year.\u00a0 The Japanese also have this type of figure.\u00a0 His name is Hoteiosho (\u307b\u3066\u3044\u304a\u3057\u3087<\/strong>).\u00a0 He’s a buddhist monk, with a large belly and a cloth sack full of toys.\u00a0 He has eyes in the back of his head,\u00a0which means that\u00a0he’s able to see the children and how they behave without them knowing.\u00a0 Hoteisosho (\u307b\u3066\u3044\u304a\u3057\u3087<\/strong>) is one of the seven gods of fortune.\u00a0 He’s one of the more jovial, happy-go-lucky chaps, which is very convenient, because I don’t think a vengeful and scary god is\u00a0something that is appealing for children.<\/p>\n Everyone, I hope this year you were all good boys and girls.\u00a0 Merry Christmas (\u30e1\u30ea\u30fc\u30af\u30ea\u30b9\u30de\u30b9<\/strong>)!<\/p>\n \ufffd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan.\u00a0 Nevertheless, some people still find time to celebrate Christmas, even after a long day at work.\u00a0 The Japanese have a tendency to take a tradition and make it uniquely their own.\u00a0 Some of the things that I’m going to mention in this post are going to sound…<\/p>\n