A Sushi Christmas

It's about that time of year... the time for all to decorate their lawns, put up the lights, and brave the sales. In Japan, you may think that there are no celebrations of the kind, but you'd be wrong. In fact, it seems that the whole city is in celebration mode.

View exhibit A -- This is the side of a building lit up like a reindeer. I didn't notice it at first until Christopher pointed it out to me. And then I thought, how the heck did I not notice that?

To me, that's pretty detailed, but it gets better. Signs everywhere say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. When you walk into department stores, they are playing Christmas carols. Not Japanese Christmas carols, but classic English ones like "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells." The main train station in the city has a light display on one side. View exhibit B -- This is the side of Nagoya Station. The picture doesn't show it, but Santa pops around the side of the building, in and out of windows and things.

So with all this Christmas cheer, is it really Christmas as usual? No, not really I have to admit. Most individual families don't celebrate, and it's impossible to find a turkey (much less roast one in an oven that I don't have!) or a honey-baked ham. Maybe next year I'll venture out and pick up a roast chicken from the Brasilian meat shop -- I've been told it's delicious. But this year, I imagine Christopher and I will just go down the street to our local take-out sushi place and grab some tekkamaki. Don't feel bad for me though, I was already visited by Santa!!!