Christmas in Kumamoto

One big motivation for this trip was my first experience of the holidays in Japan. While living here, the vacation time was too enticing to pass up, so Christmas was spent in places like New Zealand and Vietnam. At last, in 2011, I got to see the craze that is Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas!

Grandma Chieko was super excited to have her granddaughter here for Christmas.

A delicious Christmas Eve dinner began with live shrimp and a toast.
Next, the famous Christmas cake!
Japanese people cannot comprehend that Christmas cakes are not the holiday staple in other places that they are here. You have to order weeks in advance to get a cake, and everyone eats them on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. And they are worth the effort.

Hiroki loved the sugary Santa figure.

Then he went to sleep.

The gift-giving custom differs immensely. While I remember Christmas as the highlight of the year, when I popped up early in the morning after a night of barely sleeping in anticipation of Christmas morning and a family room full of presents, the tradition here is for Santa to put a single present in a stocking near a kid's pillow. Hiroki received some new Ultraman figures.

On Christmas Day, we ate some chocolate Christmas cake, equally as delicious as the vanilla the night before.

Aunt Masae also loved having her niece around this year.

Next, we headed to my friend Jason's house, where Randi tried on Hiroki's Santa suit.

Then they played with the Barbie Dream House that Santa brought her.

In the end, it seemed like just another day in Japan. People worked (that normally work on Sundays), and even the mail got delivered. On the one hand, I liked the lack of stress, hustle, and bustle of Western-style Christmas, as well as the focus on material things. Then again, I really missed family time and the enjoyment of celebrating a big holiday together.

Thanks for reading, hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!