Forum - View topicHanukkah in Japan!..and Christmas too!
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wanderlustking
 Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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I'm spending the holiday season in Japan, and wanted to wish everyone a happy Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.I gotta say, while this is far from the first time I've spent the holidays in Japan, it's still going to be weird eating Asian food on Christmas...
In Asia. In keeping with the theme of this forum, I was wondering what some of your favorite holiday episodes are? Bonus points if the celebrated holiday is something other than Christmas! Any way, happy holidays everybody! Edit: to answer my own question, I really liked the Toradora Christmas episode, especially when Ryujii shows up at Taiga's house in the bear suit. Awww! I also loved Tokyo Godfathers. It wasn't anything like what I would expect from Satoshi Kon, but it manages to give Miyazaki a run for his money when it comes to feel goodyness. Definitely one of the best Christmas movies ever. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5185 |
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As PetrifiedJello once posted (I'm too lazy to actually look up the actual post at the moment), "Show me yours, and I'll show you mine."
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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Done and done! I realized almost as soon as I hit submit, that I'd forgotten to answer myself. Hence the quick edit.
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5185 |
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In Kasimasi: Girl Meets Girl ep.#13 has teen-aged girls in Christmas miniskirt costumes selling Christmas trees in a snowstorm.
@wanderlustking: Am I correct in assuming that there is no way IN HELL that any women would be wearing miniskirts outdoors in Japan in December? |
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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@nbahn: I remember that, it rocked! As for your question, it depends. Japanese Winters tend to be quite a bit milder than those in the states (which is why I like to my winters in Japan, I'm old dammit). That being said, you don't see mini-skirts very often in mid December. Probably the biggest factors are the year and location. In some parts of Japan, during certain weather patterns, you won't see a single snow flake all year. Then, you get three feet of snow in October the next year.
I live in Montana, so it's not uncommon for me to see people (and that includes girls) wearing jeans and t-shirts in bellow freezing weather. Weird Huh? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18588 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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That's hardly limited to Montana. Every year in Indiana I see people who still wear shorts in sub-freezing weather and in high school I had a friend who wouldn't put on a jacket (he always wore short sleeves) until it was below 40 F - and then only because his mother made him. |
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DavidShallcross
 Posts: 1008 |
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Well, I liked the episode of Haruhi Suzumiya where the SOS-dan goes to the Obon festival. I must have watched that one a whole bunch of times.
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4640 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Christmas and New Years Episodes of Kamichu! are great. The former has a bunch of family and friend's goodwill mixed in with the Shrine Girl's Shinto brand of Grinchitude. The later, and exceuse me if you're tired of hearing this from me, is great for the way the entire episode is spent with Yurie sitting and sleeping at a kotatsu table on New Years but manages to stay fun and fresh.
There's a reason Love Hina Xmas Special is considered by many to be the best piece of Love Hina animated fare. It's sweet, romantic, and Naru is on her best behavior (relatively). The only part that consistently frustrates me is the scene where authorities chastise Motoko for defending herself against a pervert on the train... hey, if authorities got any of the girl's cases for constantly beating the spit out of Keitaro for no reason- that'd be fine- but when she's made to feel bad for bloodying the nose of an actual pervert who is actually molesting her- I get annoyed. Form This season: Seitokai Yakuindomo, ep.11, Part 3 "Santa's Sexual Desires", mainly due to Tsuda's three Christmas gifts... especially the third one. Also from earlier this year. Kimi ni Todoke's Christmas and New Year's episodes, for having those sweet moments of almost romantic payoff. As for another holiday- the Tanabata/ Aoi's birthday episode of Ai Yori Aoshi is also ridiculously sweet... and rather Christmasy in it's message. |
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sogekihei-neko
 Posts: 128 |
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I thought short skirts were mandatory in Japan? 
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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An easy mistake to make. It's interesting to me how far the Japanese will go to embrace the punk lifestyle. I once saw a girl in Osaka whose entire wardrobe was made of see through trash bags and paperclips. I hadn't seen something like that since I lived in London in the 70s. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Is there a recognition of Chanukah in Japan? I know Christmas is widely celebrated mostly in a secular sense, since the majority of Japanese hold Buddhist and Shinto beliefs and very few people are Christian, but Chanukah? And Kwanzaa sounds even less likely...
Talking about holiday specials, Futurama had a new, wacky multi-cultural holiday special this year, The Cleaveland Show's holiday special was surprisingly sweet, and the classic Simpsons "Treehouse of Horrors" Holloween specials are still funny after all these years (some of them actuallty scared me as a kid!) I would love to get my hands on the SimpsonsxDeath Note Treehouse of Horror comic that Spacecayote drew for Bongo comics a few years back! On the anime side: Tokyo Godfathers is one of the best Christmas movies I've ever seen. If you are looking for "unique" holidays celebrated in anime, I really enjoyed the Fruits Basket ep in which Momiji takes the whole gang to an onsen to celebrate White Day! It's a really sweet episode. |
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wanderlustking
Posts: 449 Location: Bozeman, Montana |
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There are fewer than 2,000 Jews in Japan, and as such, the religion is not very understood by the public. One thing I've always had trouble with is the Star of David, which many Japanese consider occult. I have several tattoos depicting the star, and wear a silver one around my neck. This can lead to very awkward looks from people, and my physical appearance doesn't help much.
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