Christmas 2025

A lot has been going on in Japan lately, and where do I begin? I'm still trying to figure that out, but for now, I will simply say:

オフィスからメリークリスマス　(Merry Christmas from the office)

Oh yes, and I did take the time to draw this. Foreshadowing of an update involving my drawings in the near future?

Christmas 2023

 As it is getting closer to Christmas, I am reminded of the oddity of celebrating it in Japan.

I have mentioned in the past that Christmas is not observed as a public holiday in Japan, which makes sense given that the country mostly practices Buddhism in some form or another, with Christians being largely in the minority. Despite this, everywhere you go in Japan, businesses are cashing in on the Christmas season. Restaurants and convenience stores are playing Christmas songs - right now, as I am sitting in an Excelsior cafe, a cover of Little Drummer Boy is playing. I can't help feeling bad for the staff who have to work at these places and listen to nothing but Christmas songs for hours at a time.

As Christmas falls on a Monday this year, and as I earlier mentioned that it is not a public holiday in Japan, this will be the 2nd or 3rd time that I will be working on Christmas メンドクセーーー!　ヽ(｀Д´#)ﾉ

That aside though, I feel so out of it. It has been over 4 years since I went home for a visit, and I do miss that kind of togetherness with the family you get from celebrating Christmas. I do have my gf here to celebrate Christmas with - even if we do have to celebrate on the 24th because of work - but I do miss the celebrations of back home. Though now, things have changed since I was last home, with the big difference being Dad is now gone, and I am worried about what Mum will do for Christmas as it just her at home. I keep in regular contact with her on a weekly basis, and I plan to call mum on Christmas too, even if it is going to be later in the evening.

I suspect that it this could be down to homesickness, which is weird as I have not felt homesick since first coming to Japan for work back in 2016. Though I think talking to my friend who I haven't spoken with in some time probably had me thinking of home. 

Merii Kurisumasu---!!!

メリークリスマス皆！

Merry Christmas everyone. Despite not being able to go home for Christmas (for the second year in a row...), my girlfriend and I went out with some friends for some yakiniku. In a post I made years ago about traditional Christmas meals in Japan, yakiniku is bit unusual in comparison. Even so, the yakiniku restaurant that we went to on Saturday was very busy. Fortunately, my girlfriend booked a table in advance for us. We also made sure to skip breakfast and lunch so we can eat big for dinner. 

In terms of presents, I got my girlfriend some nice chocolates and a nice one piece dress for her (which was also to make up for her belated birthday present), while I got myself a Gundam kit, but not just any Gundam kit, a solid clear version of the Master Grade Gundam 3.0. It was from an Ichiban Kuji campaign back in 2018, but I was very surprised at how cheap I was able to find a copy of it on Rakuten. It was around 4,000 yen (around $40), which is comparable to most regular release Master Grade Gundam kits, so I'm happy with my purchase. My girlfriend will be getting my Christmas present a little later this week. 

Unrelated, I was able to get back to going to the gym these last two days. After 3 months of resting (after fucking up my back doing something stupid in the gym), I was finally able to do some training. Of course, I'm still not 100%, but it definitely does feel great to be back. Though the gym will be closed for the New Year break, I'll be looking forward to going back afterwards. As long as I'm careful and avoid exercises that affect my back for the time being, and as long as I don't do anything stupid at the gym again, hopefully the recovery will continue without further issues.

As for plans for the New Year, I have none. We were planning to do a little bit of travelling, but unfortunately, with the Omicron variant of the CCP virus in Japan now, and everyone else most likely planning to travel during this period, we decided to hold off on travel until after the winter break has finished, and instead go during a period where not everybody is going to be travelling at the same time... possibly for my birthday maybe? Who knows. 

While I will be having a quiet one again this year, I hope you will have a safe and happy New Year. 

Christmas in Japan 2020

メリークリスマス

Merry Christmas everyone. 

In an unusual move this year, most likely due to the pandemic, there were still classes on Christmas. In past years, winter break usually starts a few days before Christmas (usually around the 22nd - 23rd of the month). But yes, we had classes on Christmas - something my friends and family back home couldn't believe when I told them. While I have worked Christmas back home for my old job, Christmas back home is public holiday. As a result, pay was significantly more for Christmas, our hours were shorter (so we could get home and still catch up with the family), and we usually got compensated with some sort of gift (usually Chocolates or a bottle of wine).
Fortunately, classes were pretty chill on Friday as I expected. The 2nd Graders at my Jr. High School had a Christmas party themed lesson, where we just played games and had quizzes in English (and I ended up participating too). I learned that the green on Christmas symbolizes eternal life. Or at least life on further research in to this. I also learned that Santa Claus has a postal code in America (for those that don't know, it's HOHOHO.) I only ended up with having 2 classes, and the rest of it was spent just studying or chilling out. School lunch was nice - though being Christmas, I was kind of expecting fried chicken (as is tradition in Japan), and ended up with hamburg steak instead. Don't get me wrong, I love hamburg steak as much as anyone else, but I was expecting something a little more... special. Well, we also got a Christmas desert for lunch to go with it, so I was happy with it overall.

After school, my girlfriend and I went out to get some food to prepare for Christmas dinner. A friend who lives in the same apartment complex as us also happened to be free, so we also invited him over for Christmas dinner, and hanged out playing games afterwards. A fun way to end Christmas overall.

Now that the winter break has started, I can take a week and bit of time off. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, going back home to see the family is impossible. However, I did give the family call yesterday to wish them a Merry Christmas. Maybe I'll give the apartment a clean up during this time. 

In any case, have a Merry Christmas and a happy 2021. Hopefully things will start looking brighter next year.

Japan extending the Winter Break

I came across this article recently.

Naturally there are pros and cons for this. One of the pros being long break time during Christmas and New Year instead of the usual few days most people get during that time. Also, the theory is that by extending the holiday period, the crowds will be smaller and scattered around all the major locations associated with the New Year festivities (such as shrines and temples) over a longer period of time, reducing the spread of the virus.
However, the con for this is that while in theory the scattered crowds could work, the flip side is that there could possibly be big crowds but rather than being scattered, it will be big crowds everyday, increasing the risk of spreading the virus (not to mention the flu during this period). Another con is that for many people who are on contracts and only get paid for days they work (people like me), it means we get less pay than normal. This especially irks me, because I get paid a handsome amount, as any unused paid leave days at the end of the year will be added to my December paycheck. 

I am torn on this, as I would like a little more time off, as I only got two weeks off during the summer break (though I did like getting paid for August for once), so two weeks in December/January would be a nice change. On the other hand, I also like getting paid more than normal during this time. Admittedly though, due to this pandemic, my options on where to go and what to do are limited. I am still hesitant to go to Tokyo during this time, even if my girlfriend goes there once a week for work. Though it would be a good opportunity to check out some of the shrines around my city, especially one that is literally right next to one of my junior high schools.

Christmas in Japan 2019

Came back from a two day trip in Tokyo to spend time with my girlfriend. Feels a little strange since I was back home celebrating Christmas last year.

Getting around Tokyo (especially Ikebukuro Station) during that time was pretty much:

On the 24th, we had KFC for dinner - the traditional Christmas dinner for all who celebrate Christmas in Japan. As for the 25th, we went to a small Italian restaurant in Sugamo. I have to admit, I really enjoyed the gnocchi they served, as it also had pieces of sweet potato thrown in to the mix, which gave the dish a surprisingly mild and sweet taste to go with the cheesy sauce. Would definitely have it again if the given the opportunity. On the 26th, my girlfriend needed to work on her thesis for most of the day, so I wandered around Akihabara and Ikebukuro before meeting up to buy each other's late Christmas presents. I bought her an external hard drive, whereas she bought me a HG Char's Zaku II (Red Comet version), and some protein powder.

While we weren't able to spend much time together, due to her having to finish up her thesis for submission by the beginning of next month, I was happy to see her, as it has been about two months since we last saw each other. She promised to make up for it after she's submitted her thesis next month by coming to Chikusei (which she hasn't done in quite some time). While it is a small city, I want to go check out Furispo, as in all my time here, I've never been there, despite having heard about it, and even passing by it from time to time. I guess it's one of those places you'd go with friends rather than alone. Anyway, having her come to visit is something to look forward to.

あけましておめでとうございます！

遅れてしまいましたけど、あけましておめでとうございます！ (A bit late, but Happy New Year!)

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. I will briefly talked about what's been happening, and (hopefully) go into more detail in future posts.

During December, I attended two kindergartens for Christmas-related activities. More specifically, I dressed up as Santa and played with the children. It was a bit daunting at first, but fortunately it was not that hard at all. I went there early with another staff member from my company and met some of the kindergarten staff and principal, and talked about a variety of topics, before getting briefing on what would be happening during the Christmas activities. After the briefing, I finally got into my Santa costume, and got to meet the children at the assembly where I participated in a song with the teachers, helped give out presents, and finally took pictures with all the children. At one of the kindergartens, I was treated to morning tea with some of the staff after finishing the activities, before they gave another gift bag full of snacks and sweets. Since the visit was only for the morning, I went back to my usual elementary schools to resume lessons for the remainder of the day.
In addition, it was winter break from the 23rd of December until the 9th of January. I took this chance to go to Kyoto to visit my girlfriend and spend time with her for Christmas and New Year. Having been 4 months since I last saw her, it was great to spend time together, even if only for less than 2 weeks.

The other bit of news that has happened is that due to my employer not winning the contract for Kamisu, all the company's Kamisu ALTs will have to move out at the end of the semester. I am trying to weigh up my options at the moment, between staying on with the company and seeing what other city they will offer me; or jump ship and apply for the company that won the Kamisu contract to stay in Kamisu and hope that I will be allowed to continue working at my current schools. At the moment, my coordinator is checking on other positions available, after knocking back a position in Kitaibaraki (after finding out it's right next to Fukushima). It seems that whatever I decide to choose, I will at least have a new 1 year contract with a company, so I don't have to worry about uncertainty of employment.

I hope to go into greater detail for my time in Kyoto, and about my future in Kamisu in a future post. Until then, at least you know that I am still alive (laughs).

メリークリスマス！

Merry Christmas from Kyoto everyone. 京都からメリークリスマスみんな！

For me, Christmas is a bigger deal than usual this year for two reasons: 1) I'm celebrating in another country, and 2) I'm not celebrating it with the family this year (because, you know, they're back in Australia). However, I am fortunate enough to be celebrating it with my girlfriend.
From what I've learned, and from what my girlfriend has told me, the general impressions towards Christmas in Japan are significantly different compared to how it is celebrated in Australia. The main point I've found is that Christmas here isn't a time for being with family. In fact, it's a time for couples to be together and go out. Also, Christmas Eve is apparently a bigger deal than Christmas Day, in that presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve instead.
Another interesting point, is that fried chicken is the food to be eating during Christmas. While convenience stores and whatnot sell fried chicken, KFC is usually the preferred choice of Japanese people. Also, since there's only one KFC that I know of in Kyoto (located in Sanjo), it got really busy there - hell they even take advance orders, so you can go there later and just pick up your order immediately. When we went there, there was already a line forming outside, and some staff were going to waiting customers, giving out a menu so they can decide while waiting, and then taking their order when they were ready. The staff would write the order down on a docket, and give it to you, which you give to the cashier when you're next to make your payment. Luckily for us, a number of people decided to leave the line and go elsewhere, which made things go quicker. The staff also mentioned that because it was so busy, our order would probably take about 20 mins, which was no problem to us. Surprisingly, it only took about 10 mins between paying and receiving our meal.
The final thing I've found is that Christmas is not a national holiday here, so there are still plenty of people that will be working on Christmas Day today. In Australia, people everywhere would be making use of their annual leave to get this week off, and maybe a little bit in to next week, in preparation for the new year.

I wasn't expecting much in the way of presents this year, but I was really happy and surprised with what I received from my girlfriend. I got a pair of thermal earmuffs for the winter, some popcorn which we'll probably eat tonight, a framed photo of us when we went to see the autumn leaves a few weeks back, a shoulder bag (which I had been thinking about getting for some time, but didn't mention anything to my girlfriend, so this was a really pleasant surprise), and lastly a sketchbook - but not just any regular sketchbook: knowing that I like Gundam (especially Gundam Unicorn), she personally decorated it with a lot of Gundam images, especially the RX-0 Gundam Unicorn, and on the back were images of all the Universal Century Gundams. I was really impressed that she went to such great lengths, and they are all really awesome gifts (by the way, I did buy her presents too, in case anyone was wondering)

That's all for me from now, next post will hopefully cover the New Year in Japan.