Christmas in Ginza

The shoppers were out in droves this weekend. Tom and I decided to face the mob in Ginza on Saturday, but only because he was desperate to replace his disintegrated wallet. I went along for the ride and took my camera so I could play while he shopped. The streets and stores were absolutely packed: imagine the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave.) in Chicago and you know what I mean. Only here, they don't even technically celebrate Christmas! This is mass marketing at its best though. Honestly, you would really think that Christmas is a major holiday here, but it isn't even a national holiday. As in people work on Christmas here. I know it may be obvious, but it was certainly a shock to me when I was an exchange student.

Most Japanese people may celebrate Christmas by going on a date, eating some KFC, and indulging in some Christmas cake (way to go advertising execs!) and it is hard to convince some of them that this is not actually the way we do it in the states. My former Nagano students were stunned to find out that fried chicken is not the traditional Christmas meal. Boy, if I were eating KFC for Christmas back home it would be moments after hitting bottom on the pathetic-ness scale. Granted, my Christmas ideals may be different from some but does anyone out there really feel that Christmas isn't Christmas without a bucket of the Colonel's best?

I will leave you all to ponder Christmas chicken and try to get Blogger to let me post more of my photos. Cheers!