Christmas Shrapnel

“A holiday bomb has exploded over the city, leaving Christmas shrapnel everywhere.” – Tokyo Cooney

This is a video blog I found on YouTube last night. Tokyo Cooney is actually Kevin Cooney. He’s been living in Tokyo for six years and keeps a very entertaining and insightful video blog. I think his description of the holiday season in Tokyo is the most accurate. The biggest thing about Christmas here is the decorations. Christmas lights, called illumination, go up everywhere. Santa Claus outfits also appear pretty much everywhere something is sold. The KFC Colonel has been dressed as Santa since Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve every convenient store and restaurant in Abiko had a Santa out front waving people inside. It’s exactly as if people in Japan watched American TV and decided that lights and Santa Claus were what Christmas is all about.

My Christmas began by waking up late and having breakfast delivered to my room. It was a nice way to start the day, but I couldn’t help wishing I was home. My first Christmas away from home. Kind of a bittersweet moment. But I was really looking forward to talking to my family so I eventually rolled out of bed. I skyped with the entire O’Mara clan at 9:30 am my time, 6:30 back in the states. It was great seeing everyone. I haven’t talked to any of my cousins since I’ve been here and I at least got to say Merry Christmas to almost everyone. It was kind of hard to here everyone and they had trouble understanding me. That what happens when 40 people try to use the computer at once. But it was still a very nice treat. Then I skyped with my bro for a while. After skype it was time for some Japanese, so I set off for the train station to meet up with Sha and Nanase. Sha is an exchange student from Taiwan. He lives in Abiko and stayed with the Ibarakis for two days over the summer. Nanase is a college student in Canada. She’s home for the holidays visiting family and such. Ms. Ibaraki was her English teacher in middle school and high school. I found out the Mr. and Ms. Ibaraki used to teach at the same school. He teaches Chemistry, she English.

Nanase, Sha, and I walked from the train station to an apartment complex nearby. I like spending time with them because our conversations are always very interesting. Sha has some unique observations of Japan because he’s from a different country. We compared the many cultural differences between Taiwan, Japan, Canada, and the U.S. There are many to discuss.

The apartment building (called mansions here) had a pre-school on the second floor. This had been rented out for a Christmas party. Approximately thirty billion children between the ages of eight and 16 months inhabited the room. It was probably more like a dozen and a half but little kids always feel like more. Each kid had their mother with them, the fathers were all at work. Christmas isn’t a holiday in Japan. Nanase, Sha and I had lunch and then played with the kids for an hour or so. You don’t need any Japanese to play with babies, only the ability to make funny faces. It’s interesting what different kids will be entertained by. Some kids loved peek-a-boo, some dancing, some airplane, and one girl just loved waving goodbye to me. It was quite adorable. After an hour of playtime we all donned Santa suits and handed out presents to the kids. Some immediately grasped the concept and snatched the packages away from me. Most just stared in wonder at this strange thing in red clothing and eventually cried. Then we took pictures of half an hour or more. Every child I held cried in my arms, save one. Santa is a terrifying figure. It was still sweet. For most of them it was their first Christmas.

Soon enough all the children were rubbing their eyes and we packed up and left. We walked home and Momiji fell asleep in the stroller. My family only has one car and my host father drives to work every day. So we walk or bike everywhere in town. I think this is an excellent, healthy, and environmentally conscious idea. It works because everything is so dense. There’s a grocery store, a hospital, a train station, a park, and a department store all within a fifteen-minute walk. So we walk or bike everywhere in town. Upon arriving home we were given a half-hour break. Nanase and I traded pictures and talked about home. This is the first time she’s been home for Christmas and New Years. I asked why she was spending Christmas with us instead of her family. She said in Japan Christmas is typically spent with friends. It’s not a big family holiday. It’s a big couples holiday, like Valentine’s Day (which is huge in Japan). New Years however, is a family holiday. Kind of the opposite in the U.S.

Our rest was short lived though. Soon enough Sha and I were back in Santa costumes and walking around the neighborhood. We played reverse-Halloween. We each had a stack of presents. We would walk around to houses directed by Ibaraki-san, ring the doorbell, say Merry Christmas, and give presents to the kids there. They didn’t get my Halloween reference because they don’t trick-er-treat here. I think Ibaraki-san knows every child in a five-mile radius. I mentioned that this area had tons of kids. She was surprised. “No, there are very few.” Could have fooled me. I’ve seen nothing but kids since I’ve been here. We live in a kind of a Japanese subdivision. All the houses all look alike, but different from American sub-divisions. No sidewalks, front lawns, or garages. I’m impressed that she was able to navigate it so deftly. Often, when we rang the doorbells, wait, I need to explain the doorbells here. Every house I’ve seen has a doorbell on the gate outside the house. They’re never next to the door. And it’s a complicated intercom/ video system. Every house. So you know who it is before you answer the door. Anyway, we were invited into several houses. I liked this because I enjoy observing the differences between houses, even just he physical ones. And Japanese people typically don’t invite people to their houses. I’ve only been inside one of my friends’ houses. I noticed that enormous TVs were pretty common. And all houses are pretty small. We delivered presents for a little over an hour, and then went back to the house for the Christmas party.

The Christmas party was with my family, a friend’s family, Nanase, and Sha. We had the typical Christmas foods, roasted chicken, sushi, cake… The Japanese sure are good at adopting other people’s culture and making it their own. They have a long history of doing this. Many things that are considered traditionally Japanese come from other places, mostly China. Tea ceremony, rice cultivation, Buddhism (originally from India), and more recently things like electronics and cars. So why not Christmas? Lots of talking and hanging out with people, which is my favorite part of being here. Spending time with people is what it’s all about.

After the party I crashed into bed. I woke up the next day early for track. I rip-sticked to school, which made me feel very cool and it was faster than walking. I accidentally took the wrong train though, bummer. From Tsuchiura I went south to school. From Abiko I go north, so I accidentally boarded a train heading south towards Tokyo instead of away from it. Oops. I got to track late, but it turned out not to matter. Practice had been canceled anyway. But no one told me because Babasaki (the captain) didn’t have my email or phone. So he showed up to run a short practice with me. Really nice of him. He was rewarded with free lessons on the rip-stick. He picked it up really fast and when I had to go he rode it all the way to the train station with me. At home I had lunch and chilled out. Chill days are nice, especially right after a really busy day like Christmas. I think it’s good to keep a healthy mix of chill days and busy days. It seems to keep me the happiest. I went to the health clinic nearby with Momiji and Ibaraki-san in the afternoon. Momiji sounded pretty bad, like her lungs were filled with something. Plus I had to get an influenza shot. Turned out everything with Momiji was alright.

Next day, the 27th. More track, this time I taught my whole team how to ride the rip-stick. They all think it’s the coolest thing on earth. Therefore I am the coolest person for having one. It is pretty fun. I’m determined to learn how to do some tricks this break. But I had to go earlier. I went home, changed, and then hopped on a train for Tokyo. I went to Higashi-kurume, a neighborhood in Tokyo, to do Christmas with the Lutherans. I met them at the station, had dinner at their house, and went to my first English service since September. I liked the service. I think the Lutherans do music better than the Catholics. Not St. Nick’s of course, it’s hard to beat that music, but the churches I’ve found here are pretty bland. The Lutherans get it though; music is an important part of the service. It was a nice day of English. They are rare and always a treat. It was a very full day. My train ride home was an hour plus. I got home at like, 11:30. Whew. Late. So I took a bath (always) and hit the hay.

Today was another chill day. I woke up late, blogged some, got a package from my family, and sat around my room for the morning. My parents were kind enough to ship me the gifts that Santa left at my house for me. Apparently he didn’t get the memo. Whatever, he’s a busy dude. I went out with Momiji to the park in the afternoon. And then biked around Abiko on my own. I found the library here, which is infinitely better than the Tsuchiura library. Tsuchiura is building a new one in two years, so they've stopped putting money into the old one. But this place in Abiko is great. It put me at peace. I like the feeling of a good library. They have lots of English magazines and newspapers, and a large selection of foreign books. The park outside the library has a public basketball court! Well, it’s a single hoop with no net, but it must be the only basketball court in the Chiba/ Ibaraki area. I haven’t seen a single other one and I’ve looked very hard. Then I got lost on the way home but I found a track along the way. And it’s really close to my house. Like a two-minute jog. Overall I really like the city of Abiko. I found a planetarium and a bird museum. Even though it’s smaller than Tsuchiura, there seems to be more stuff to do. Tonight I’m helping my mother make dinner and then tomorrow I’m off to meet Nanase in Akihabara (another region of Tokyo. There are as many neighborhoods in Tokyo as grains of sand in the Sahara).

I’m off to open Santa’s presents. I hope everyone had a merry Christmas.