Christmas 2011: Celebrations in Takamatsu

Pre-packed Christmas treats in Aeon.

For Christmas 2011, I knew that I would be heading home to Scotland to see my family and friends. Many people said that this was too fast and a bit silly (since I'd only have been in Japan for five months by the time I would be heading back home!), but I felt it was a worthwhile trip. My family has never had a Christmas apart from one another, and I didn't want to be the one to break the trend; plus, it would be a nice way to touch base with my friends and assure them that everything was going well.

Of course, I would be in Japan for the majority of December before my travels homeward. As such, I was lucky to experience at least a little of the local Christmas spirit, which I'll be writing about here. I've already written about my Christmas lessons at school elsewhere, so I'll focus on some of the wider social and cultural aspects in this post.

A Christmas tree lights up the Takamatsu shotengai shopping streets.

Christmas is a relatively new concept in Japan, by all accounts adopted primarily after World War 2. Japanese citizens are certainly aware of it, but it's a bit of a novelty - many families probably wouldn't have a Christmas tree, for example, nor exchange any presents. New Year has always been the biggest celebration event in the Japanese national calendar, and as such Christmas is only now beginning to catch up - though obviously, it lacks any of the Christian connotations in holds in the West, due to Japan's dominant Shinto and Buddhist belief systems.

Christmas isn't a national holiday (people still go to work if it falls on a weekday), and a few of the iconic elements are still not readily available. While Santa and reindeers are naturally prominent, advent calendars and Christmas crackers are pretty obscure over here here - as is turkey, which is supplemented by chicken or even a trip down to KFC(!).

A festive Colonel Sanders sells Christmas chicken.

(Image sourced from this blog.)

By no means is that to say that Christmas isn't visible across Japan. It most certainly is, and pervasively so.

A festive Christmas cow with reindeer antlers.

Certainly very innovative!

Christmas tortilla chips? Sold!

While perhaps not quite as excessive as a few Western cities I could think of, the Christmas decorations are most certainly on display in town centres and commercial areas. While homes may not have Christmas trees or lights themselves, the commercial nature of Christmas is very much alive. Festive branding dominates store fronts, and many shops offer seasonal products and deals. It seems that perhaps those most strongly pushing the concept of Christmas in Japan are those who see the way in which it can drastically contribute to Western economies and are hoping to replicate the benefits locally!

A uniquely Japanese-style Christmas cake.

One of the most iconic elements of Japanese Christmas which is unique to Japan is the concept of Christmas cake. While most Western countries will indulge in cake at Christmas (perhaps a traditional pudding or chocolate log, etc), most don't have strawberry shortcake filled with sponge, cream and vanilla icing. Many bakeries and department stores offer these specialized Christmas cakes, often complete with the branding of mass-marketed characters for children. It's quite a radical departure, and typically these need to be ordered weeks in advance to avoid disappointment (as opposed to our Western tradition of reserving turkeys).

A gift for my sister;

a giant Rilakkuma head.

Another product which deserves heaps of praise are Japanese Christmas cards. Typically these greetings cards are far more elaborate and impressive than their Western counterparts. I imagine the reason for their craftsmanship has more than a little to do with Japan's history of origami and paper craft. These aren't necessarily too expensive, either - often ranging between the ￥100 to ￥350 mark, so they're definitely affordable to give to a few friends (I ended up buying around thirty, to distribute both here in Takamatsu and back home in Scotland!).

A Japanese Christmas card!
Image sourced from this Flickr page.

Of course, there are naturally cheaper varieties, but typically the cards on display are in line with these elaborate displays - and all the better for it.

Construct your own Christmas house!

A fun little find in the Aeon crafts section.

Starbucks' Christmas menu: refreshingly familiar.

The Gingerbread latte is one of my favourite tastes of Christmas.

For a small pre-Christmas celebration, I was invited along to Mitoyo-city by fellow ALTs Kayla and Julia to make some festive gingerbread cookies. It was a lovely little afternoon and a good opportunity to get to know some of the local ALTs better. We struggled to cook some of the cookie dough in the toaster oven (a common problem here), but we pushed through and made some rather tasty results. Here's a handful of photographs from our day of baking:

 

Kayla (above left) and Julia (right) indulge in our homemade gingerbread cookies. 

A rather unflattering portrait of myself.

The JET community were also active in spreading a bit of local Christmas cheer, of course. The AJET community for Kagawa had organised a carol singing event at Takamatsu station, to greet local residents with a selection of traditional Christmas songs. I missed the event, sadly, due to a need to do some last minute Christmas shopping at the big Youme Town shopping mall in town, but I did pop by briefly to get some photographs and enjoy listening to the JETs. They did a pretty damn good job! The event was organised by English ALT Ryan Keeble, and kudos to him for putting it together

The Kagawa ALTs sing Christmas carols at Sunport, lead by Ryan Keeble.

Following this event was the AJET Christmas Party. I arrived somewhat late, due to my shopping into the early evening, but was amazed by the huge turnout. The venue for the event was 'The Palms', a local Hawaiian bar, and the place almost had no room left to sit. The evening consisted of a pub quiz and a Secret Santa session, where I won a rather nice tumbler with a chicken design on it. The room was full not just of JETs, but a whole host of local young Kagawans, too. It was a very international evening, and it felt like a lovely bit of cultural exchange.

The AJET Christmas Party 2011.

The event was followed by a trip to a nearby karaoke bar (which often happens on a night out in Japan). Cue terrible singing while drunk, but plenty of merriment.

I also happened to meet a rather cheerful gentleman with a horse's head afterwards.

Merry Christmas?

On the eve of my travel back home to Scotland, I was comfortably packed and ready to go the day before. I would be taking a night bus to Tokyo station - an overnight journey which would allow me to sleep - before boarding the Narita Express train to Tokyo Narita Terminal 2. From there, I'd fly to London Heathrow, before transferring to my final destination of Edinburgh. I had one hell of a journey ahead of me, but I was excited regardless.

Before I stepped on my night bus, however, I had a spare bit of time at Takamatsu station in which to indulge in a small snack before the long journey. I popped into the ever-popular 'Mister Donuts' chain, and treated myself to a coffee and a snowman donut cake (composed of two donuts on top of one another). It was a lovely reminder of Christmas in Japan, before I made my way back home.

Not a bad snack by which to say farewell.

And so, filled with festive donuts, I was off on my way back to Scotland.

As a little bonus to this post, here's a special Japanese Christmas music video from 2011. Enjoy!

Starting an Eikaiwa: Christmas Class

First published: 10 Mar 2012

I'd like to talk a little about the Eikaiwa I set up around Christmas time in my town of Kozai.

Merry Christmas from the Kozai Eikaiwa!

Note my slightly concealed Santa-hat.

"Eikaiwa" basically means "English conversation club", and many of my fellow ALTs and JETs were running these clubs as part of their standard teaching week. The aim is simple; to create a fun, social club for Japanese people who want an opportunity to practice, speak, and improve their English ability. These sounded like a great chance to bond with people in the local community; to make new friends, and to offer an English speaking environment to people who normally would be unable to do so.

Having heard about these and how much fun they could be, I decided I would set up my own.

Christmas fun at the first eikaiwa - Monday 12th December 2011!

I was initially unaware how to proceed. How do you set these things up? And where? I decided to have a practice run by inviting people to the food court at AEON mall - but unfortunately, the turn-out was a little low and the environment was pretty noisy. Many teachers didn't want to come because it was an environment many of the students frequented - I myself regularly encounter students when doing my shopping there (usually accompanied with shocked screams of "Gavin-sensei!", complete with wide-eyed pointing). However, many people expressed an interest in coming along to a regular eikaiwa, and I decided to proceed.

A new location was suggested by my good friend Hiroko Tomozawa; Kozai Community Centre - a venue open for community use. With the assistance of one of my favourite teachers, Manno-sensei, we managed to book the hall for a night in December, able to do our first eikaiwa just in time for Christmas!

Thus, on Monday 12th December, with a fantastic turnout of over twenty people in the local community, we had our first eikaiwa. I'm please to say that it couldn't have gone any better.

The evening consisted of a brief introduction to the subject of Christmas (thankfully I had all of my slides from the lessons I did at school!), and the chance to chat freely with many people in the community. In addition to doing a short quiz to test listening ability, we also had some ocha (Japanese tea) and cake - now a regular fixture of all eikaiwa meetings. Lastly, I played some Christmas music and we played a couple of small games for people to win small Christmas-themed prizes.

It was a lot of fun!

It was just as well we managed to fit it in, too, as on Saturday 17th December, I would be heading home to Scotland for three weeks to celebrate Christmas with my family and friends.

Many people come to the eikaiwa sessions...

even some of my students from school!

I'm planning to continue running this eikaiwa throughout my time in Japan. It really is one of the most rewarding and consistently fun experiences I'm having here.

And, most importantly, I've made some great friends.

 

A fantastic bunch.

Osaka Christmas Fun

Osaka: a neon-neo city of vibrancy, colours and crazy costumes.

So... why not head there before Christmas?

(from left to right) Alasdair Adams, Michael Upsher and I
pose for a festive photograph in the Uemeda Sky Building.
Feel the love!

Alasdair Adams and Michael Upsher are good friends of mine who I met back at the London Orientation for JET in July 2011. Alisdair is a fellow Scotsman who actually shares many mutual friends of mine in Scotland (though we didn't meet until JET!), whilst Michael is not Scottish but has ginger hair and thus blends in perfectly. Unfortunately, we hadn't had an opportunity to catch up since the Tokyo Orientation, despite numerous attempts to organise trips around Japan together. As such, we made a decision to catch up before the new year, and the decision was simple; Osaka.

The streets of Osaka prove to be a constant feast for the eyes.

Though I was a novice, Alasdair was an experienced Osaka man and was keen to show me the sights. Due to a last-minute addition to the schedule, however (a surprise enkai from the teachers at Katsuga), I was unable to make our scheduled meeting date of Friday 2nd December. So, Al and Michael headed down on the Friday evening, with me joining them early on the Saturday morning for two days of Osaka magic.

A startling discovery; a PSVITA demo site!

We would have played, but the queue was massive...

First port of call in Osaka was - predictably - Starbucks on Dotonbori. One would suspect we had more cultural pursuits in mind, and normally we would have, but honestly it was fun just to have a chance to finally catch up! We decided not to stress over cramming in the tourism, and instead to focus on just enjoying ourselves at our own pace. In retrospect, it was still a great decision.

After our coffee refreshements, we walked and subway-ed through the incredibly busy streets of Osaka towards the Uemeda Sky Building. This iconic building is famous for it's sky garden, and stands at a cracking 170 metres (!) tall. One of those buildings where your ears will pop on the way up the lift... Of course, it was bloody freezing at the top, but what a view! The height is immediately noticeable on the lift down, too (the ground certainly looks like it's approaching rather fast!). To put things in perspective, we were actually looking down on helipads on the skyscraper buildings beneath us.

The Uemeda Sky Building! 170 metres tall... Pretty chilly.

Michael and Adam survey the amazing skyline.
The spectacular views from the Uemeda Sky Building were
some of the most breathtaking I've experienced in Japan.

As well as getting some incredible views from the open rooftop of the building (which included some surreal / helpful signs asking us not to jump off - no problem!), the interior had been decked out with some festive accessories - including decorations, a stand for photography (see the three of us huddled together in a love heart!), and rows of string hanging against the windows. Visitors were invited to make their wishes for 2012. Of course, you can see what Alasdair and I had on our minds...

Two Scotsmen dream in vain of Scottish Premiere League
glory for their local football teams...

At the base of the Uemeda Sky Building was a pleasant and welcome surprise; a German Christmas Market, just like the ones that are scattered across the UK every year! It was very striking but in no way out of place - a testament of the rapid speed at which Japan has adopted the festive season. We grabbed ourselves some traditional Glühwein (of course) - though the woman that served us was neither German nor Japanese, but actually a (rather attractive) French woman who could speak all those languages in addition to English. Certainly a multicultural experience.

Christmas market fun! A surprisingly European

display in the heart of a Japanese city.

True story: A young Japanese girl was more scared

by us foreigners that she was of this troll.

After a quick stop-off for donuts and onsen, the evening was spent exploring the spectacular sights of night-time Dotonbori - an incredible neon street filled with high buildings and bars, clubs, restaurants and fast-food stands. The costumes on display were incredible - it actually felt like a prelude to Akihabara! Osaka has a reputation of being something of a "party" city - and it didn't disappointed. It's a vastly different experience to Kyoto by night, anyway.

So pretty... the neon lights of the famous and iconic Dotonbori street.

We spent the evening in a rather relaxed fashion, actually! After some lovely Mexican food (not exactly the local speciality, I'll admit), we headed on to a number of bars around the city, where we basically just chilled out!

Our party made it's way around several bars, a few late-night food stalls, and an evening stroll around Dotonbori before retiring to the hotel. Perhaps our age was catching up with us, but as I said; this trip wasn't so much about living it up, it was more about just about catching up with good friends. And this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Fun in the Osaka nightlife! A busy izikaya
with plenty of food and drink.

The next day was spent in a similar fashion; just exploring the scenery... and there was plenty to see!

After a speedy retreat from the capsule hotel (waking up ten minutes before the checkout time - which sadly led to Michael being overchaged for a late exit!), and we were picking up another excellent Starbucks breakfast (clearly - we are truly Westeners). Walking around town in the early morning, it became apparent that Osaka was just as bustling and busy at this time as at night. While Takamatsu is often quiet and peaceful in the early hours of the morning, Osaka proved to be a complete contrast - definitely a city with it's own culture.

Not quite sure what's happening here.
What's up with the bird?

A trip to the (*huge!*) Don Quiote just off Dotonbori offered a unique opportunity both to buy some excellent Japanese-style Christmas presents and to discover some rather provocative and explicit t-shirts (the likes of which certainly will not be posted here!).

Perhaps not what you'd think of when you consider Osaka (or indeed, Japan in general), but we happened upon an excellent Turkish ice-cream stall that specialised in it's unique take on ice cream. As well as being suitably delicious, it stood right next to a competitor with a typically Japanese icon flaunting his recognised associated wares.

...actually; scratch that. I have no idea what Spider-Man is doing selling ice cream.

Ice Cream in December.
You know it makes Spidey-sense.

After getting our Christmas shopping in the bag, there was only one thing left to do; grab some lunch, and head on back home.

Finally, at last, we did something "cultural" and sampled the local delicacies - the takoyaki.

Takoyaki!

Along with okinomiyaki (a dish I sadly never sampled myself), takoyaki is one of the iconic Osaka dishes and common all around Japan. I was going to talk about it in my earlier post regarding Japanese foods, but decided to save it for this entry instead, as it's so heavily associated with the city of Osaka.

So, what is it? Basically, these are small dough balls that are cooked until lightly crispy (with a doughy centre), filled with various vegetable fillings and - the core of the dish - diced octopus. The process involves cooking the dough mix on a specially shaped tray before adding the fillings as the dough begins to set, before covering with more mix and rotating to form the distinct ball shape. As the dough is typically flipped and moulded using very small sticks, actually just watching the way in which takoyaki is prepared can be an experience in itself (luckily, I was lucky enough to try making them myself when my friend Hiroko and her husband invited me to their house for dinner)!

 Takoyaki is prepared at one of the street stalls.

The entire cooking process is fascinating to watch.

The name becomes quite obvious in Japanese - tako (octopus) and yaki (cooked). Let this be a word of warning to you; if you ever try to order a "taco" in Japan, just make sure you're getting the right one, or else you may end up with a meal with more legs than you imagined.

However, if you're like me and you enjoy trying new foods, you'll discover that both octopus (of which I've been a fan for a long time) and takoyaki are delicious. Usually served with a meaty or soy-sauce based dipping sauce (as seen above), they're a perfect street snack that feels both distinctly Japanese and perfect for either a quick bite or a full meal (depending on the number you order).

Yet the one thing we hadn't anticipated was just how high the demand actually was...

 The lunch-time queues for Osaka's famous takoyaki.
Well worth waiting for.

We were waiting quite a while, but our patience was rewarded. For my money, takoyaki is one of the best snacks you can buy on the street across Japan - and if you haven't tried it yet, you're really missing out.

Finally, we were done. One fast sprint back to the train station for Alasdair to catch his train later, and it was man-hugs all round. These guys are cool. I hope I'll be able to see a whole lot more of them this year.

And, there's Osaka! Well, a whirlwind tour of it. Honestly, this barely counts as a visit. Osaka is an amazing city, and definitely left both a good impression and a thirst to go back and explore more of what it has to offer, but we didn't go out of our way to explore or seek out cultural expeditions. Certainly, there was so much more that I wanted to see, and intend to do so next time, but I've no regrets about that weekend.

This trip was just about spending quality time with friends and having some fun. Sometimes, even in Japan, that's all you really need.