Christmas and New Years in Japan
image from punahoujapoki.blogspot.com
By Sarah S., 3rd Grade
I was in Japan for Christmas. In Japan, Christmas is not a big family thing. Still, there are a lot of decorations outside and in the malls. Some families give gifts to their children on Christmas. In the bakeries there are special Christmas cakes that have lots of frosting on them. Some people eat the cake on Christmas Eve. Many people eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas! One week after Christmas is New Years and that’s the time aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents give money to the kids in little special envelopes. Each envelope may have $30, $50, $100 or more in it! Relatives get together and have special meals. In the stores, a little before New Years, they sell special surprise bags for about $10 each. You can’t pick what’s inside them. In my bag there were stamps, legos, mini kites, notebooks, silly bands, and scrunches.My cuzins and I got 3 bags and traded the stuff inside it.My favorit part is the Chistmas lights. And that’s a regular Christmas and New Year in Japan.
Happy Winter!
Sarah, when we lived in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, I was surprised to find Kentucky Fried Chicken – and California Fried Chicken AND Texas Fried Chicken! The cool thing was they served the food on real plates, not disposable ones. We were in Dakar, Senegal, for Christmas one year, and there, you’d see people walking down the street selling artificial Christmas trees and tinsel. It was funny to see that in such a hot, dry place! Would you like to go back to Japan? Where else would you like to travel?
I like the idea of surprise bags for Christmas. That sounds really fun! It would be neat if you could go to a local store like Hiron’s and buy one for your friends here at Christmas. What was the favorite thing that you got in your surprise bag?
I really like the scrunchies and the stamps.
I don’t really have a place that I would like to travel other than Japan. I might want to go to Korea sometime.