Celebrating Christmas in Japan

Christmas Eve date night

Christmas Eve in Japan is a bit like Valentine’s Day in the UK. Inspired by heartwarming Christmas movies, couples enjoy going on romantic dates and exchanging gifts with each other. In Tokyo, Disneyland is a popular place to celebrate – colourful character parades, firework displays, and light shows all make for a cute and festive couples day out.

Gift giving on Christmas Day isn’t the norm in Japan, but there is a gift-giving tradition between work colleagues called oseibo where gifts are exchanged. Seibo means ‘end of year’ and this tradition takes place between the end of November and the 20th of December. Gifts are wrapped in red and white ribbons and are a lovely way for co-workers to express their gratitude for each other.

Christmas in the city

German-style Christmas markets pop up across Japan during December, bringing a touch of European festivity to city centres. Enjoy a cosy, festive atmosphere, sipping on mulled wine, sampling tasty food and browsing stalls selling traditional gifts. Christmas markets take place up and down Japan in many of the big cities including Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. If you’re heading to Hokkaido then the Sapporo Snow Festival is a must-see and you’ll get to experience gigantic ice sculptures (some over 15 metres high) lit up by multicoloured light displays set to music.

In the capital, some of the most impressive illuminations are in Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo Dome and Roppongi. For the ultimate combo of shopping and dazzling illuminations, the Caretta Shiodome complex features a multitude of shops as well as a stunning light show set to music.

There’s plenty of illuminations to see outside of Tokyo too of course. One of the most spectacular is the Kingdom of Lights illuminations at Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki which boasts a jaw-dropping 13 million bulbs, as well as an impressive 30-metre Christmas tree. In Kobe, the Luminarie light festival attracts around 4million visitors a year and raises money from donations and merchandise sales for the victims of the 1995 earthquake. It’s one of the longest running illuminations in Japan and many of the lights were donated by the Italian Government.

Indulge in Christmas cake

Strawberry sponge is Japan’s version of Christmas cake and is very different from the Christmas Cake we know and love in the UK – there’s not a raisin in sight! Japan’s version is a soft vanilla sponge, covered in icing, filled with cream and topped with strawberries.

After World War II the Japanese economy stabilised and the ingredients to make this decadent cake became more readily available. Cake became a symbol of wealth and is now eaten on birthdays as well as over the festive season.