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Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Did Christmas in Japan Become A Thing?
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NeoStrayCat
 Posts: 634 |
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Well, I guess that makes sense, lol. X3
Other than that, Happy Holidays! \^^/ |
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2911 |
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just spotted this one. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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I just...I don't even. How in the heck did they ever come up with this absurd assumption in the first place? Seriously. XD |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Presumably from the non-stop advertising of "Bring home a family bucket for the holidays!" in a country that has more KFC's than we do. Which they thought we did, and followed suit. And as long as they're cluelessly believing everything they see in ads (including the couples-cuddling-by-the-fireside thing) do they think we also buy each other lawn tools and battery shavers for Christmas? 
I remember one episode (was it the SAO one?), where the characters discuss the problems of getting a "Christmas date", and when another character wonders if that's really the tradition, the hero says "Well, in America, they apparently celebrate it differently, but we Japanese have our own traditions." (Oh yes, I can see how those bad Portuguese missionaries just stole all your sacred Japanese Christmas traditions 500 years ago, and warped them all out of context when they took them home to the West...  )
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I feel bad for the singles, they are left out of Christmas while we're here celebrating in whatever way we want to.
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sokpupet
Posts: 133 |
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My takeaway was KFC's marketing department claimed it was simply what was done in America and part of the Christmas experience, so they'd better do it too if they want to do it right. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2436 |
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I don't live near a KFC, so I wasn't able to grab any fried chicken, but a co-worker invited me to her house with her family to celebrate Christmas Eve and we ate Christmas cake!
It's a real shame I don't like cake, but I tried not to make that too apparent as I gobbled down my smaller-than-palm sized piece of the cake that likely cost more than 500 yen by itself. I don't ever eat fast food because it makes me sick most of the time, but I was a little sad I wasn't able to get some KFC this year. Gross or not, that stuff is yum-yummies. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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There's reportedly even been a whole series of stunt protests in Tokyo the past week by poor single men, claiming that Christmas is not only shallow commercialism, but that the holiday "Discriminates against single guys!" Y'know, it's one thing to have a crazy national misapprehension... |
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lem
 Posts: 734 Location: Land of trying to figure sht out |
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Ahhh I see now, that explains, or at the least helps make sense of the KFC in All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku (OAV). Which, along with Tokyo Godfathers, has become something of a tradition to revisit during the holidays for this American. 
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7jaws7
 Posts: 705 Location: New York State |
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Hayao Miyazaki looks like Colonel Sanders. It was destiny for Japan to create the tradition!
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kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
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I'd just like to point out that Christmas was not a Christian holiday. It started out as a pagan holiday called Saturnalia, which passed many of its features into later Christian times.
In fact, there is no proof whatsoever that Jesus was actually born on Dec 25. |
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Gasero
 Posts: 939 Location: USA |
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Nobody escapes consumerism.
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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Row Row Fight the Powah amirite? Japan treating Christmas as a big party night is so sacrilegous, I'm surprised at of the many things they get criticized for, their take on it hasn't been targeted by religious nutcases. Then again, I'd take this over going to church or going to awkward family reunions anyday. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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That's how it's treated in a lot of America, too, and the Western world in general. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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It's similar, but in the West, Christmas is usually regarded as a day spent with family/close friends. New Year's Eve is when we party, unlike Japan. In the West, most places are closed Christmas Day, but not in Japan. |
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