Going back to Japan... Chapter 5

[4letterwords]

Yeah, I know it seems like I just got back from Japan... but I leave in a little less than 3 weeks to go back to school there.... for the 5th time. Boy, coming home makes you really miss the little things. Like uh... why dont japanese people ever get mad? Someone cut you off while driving? Oh well. Someone push a pregnant lady to get to the ticket counter? No problem. I wish theyd show emotion, it would make emotional ol me feel more human...

The point of this thread isnt to sit and complain about Japan, however... But instead I would like to have a discussion with people who have been in Japan a year or more.

Cummulatively (totally spelled wrong) Ive been in Japan for over a year, but strangely enough Ive only been during the summer... So my entire perspective of Japan revolves around that. What are the other seasons like? I dont really care about the sites and stuff and jesus dont get me started on cherry blossoms... I mean like, whats the overall mood? For example, in the US, during the wintertime its got kindof a loving, joyful, christmasy 気。。。atmosphere. In the fall its about being warm and cuddly and eating big meals with family, etc... I could go on but since most of you are from the US or somewhere with similar cultures then I think you get the point.

Is there any kind of this feeling in Japan? I really love Christmas and its going to be disapointing not walking through 2 feet of snow surrounded by bright christmas lights and holding hands with my boyfriend... again, you get it... so is winter going to be this big empty depressing box of lonely for me?

Be honest.

Add in the other seasons if you will.

[Vic_Rattlehead]

Where do you get the money for all the travelling at such a young age!?

[4letterwords]

Well my parents think that love comes in monetary units...

Anyway not the point.

[erbiumfiber]

I've spent two Christmases in Japan and worked on both days. For the second year, the other gaijin and I chipped in for Christmas cake and I brought in festive paper plates and napkins (so festive they got stcuk on a few bulletin boards-they don't usually have this kind of stuff). That was a little less depressing. I went to church on Christmas eve (English-language Catholic church in Roppongi) and that made it a bit better (although I ended up at the overflow service in the dreary basement the first year). There will be PLENTY of Christmas lights- that part of Christmas they have down pat. They even have the kind of religious Christmas music I like (but they dare not play in the stores in the US-here it means nothing. It's more like classical music, which they prefer). If you're not religious, it won't feel so empty. But I get pretty religious around Christmas and Easter (and do my best to go to church most Sundays) so the fact that it becomes a "couples" holiday with KFC and Christmas cake is kind of disturbing. My local bakery had a display with Christmas cake, Santa, Frosty the Snowman, and a large crucifix with a very dead Jesus (Happy Birthday!). I guess it's the thought that counts- it was the only Jesus they had around. I am sorry to this day I didn't get a picture of that.

New Year's is a very nice holiday and you should visit many shrines and temples. At big temples it is like a matsuri with plenty of food booths (I stayed overnight at Asakusa). So there will be plenty to keep you occupied. It gets decently cold in the winter, even if there is no snow where you are (in Tokyo there's none but I take the train to Niigata to ski so I get to experience lots of snow).

Will your boyfriend be here at the holidays? That makes a big difference. The holidays were lonely for me because I sent my daughter back to the US to see my mother and friends and stayed in Japan to work. Last year I went home for the first time (expensive tickets!) because my daughter is in boarding school in the US and I hadn't seen her in nearly three months. I will go home again at Christmas this year for the same reason. Next year she'll be in the UK and I might go there...at least it's a country that celebrates Christmas.

So, that's one person's view. I think you'll find that a lot of people go home at Christmas so you make not get too many responses...

[stsparky]

To Japanese kids - I look like Santa. It's not fun come X-mas. And I was one of maybe 5 Jews in town the last time. Heh.

I have a rotten attitute to actual evangelist Xtians too.

[SlickWilly440]

Well my parents think that love comes in monetaryunits....


That's what I call good parenting! :FUNNY:

[jindojim]

Christmas is for couples. If you have a boyfriend during that season, you'll be happy and can go spend it with him and eat Christmas cake. Otherwise, you'll be lonely.

So make sure you don't break up with him before then! :D

[Eddie Echoplex]

Back a while ago I spent christmas in Las Vegas.

It was depressing.

Although I'm used to the fact of the no-snow policy (I live in the middle of the freakin' desert), I get a bit religious (though I haven't walked in a church in months) and miss that "special" part of christmas which is spend it with the whole family.

[Justin Ellis]

By the bye, how cold does it get in Kansai (Kobe, say), during the winter?

[4letterwords]

Yeah, my boyfriend (technically fiance) is flying up to see me for a week and Im gonna fly my best friend and my little brother up after christmas so we can hang out during that break. My school in Japan is a private catholic school so we get christmas and new years break... its about 2 1/2 weeks long so no problem...

Theyll be christmas lights? Good enough for me.

[mikem]

There will be Christmas trees and lights. I visited in early December once and lots of places were decked out. Some people even put lights on their apartments. Why miss a chance to celebrate?

My school in Japan is a private catholic school

Are you going to be back in Tokyo? Is the school name a secret?

[4letterwords]

no its in Yamaguchi... its called Baiko Gakuin Daigaku...

Anyhoot.

[japanat]

Kobe's not that cold. It hits 5-10C in winter, occasionally drops below freezing at night. Snows a few times a year, sticks on the ground maybe once, and is gone by noon. The only problem is the humidity, it makes it feel much colder. And most houses and apts aren't well insulated (hardly at all in older buildings in Kansai), so it's nearly the same temp in as out. But if you're in the center of a big concrete apt building, your apt is toasty w/o any heating at all.

Autumn is festival time and time to travel to see the autumn colors (Kyoto is usually packed!), Christmas Eve is sex for lovers, Christmas is no big deal (unless your friend is one of the 1% Christians, and even then they usually work then go to church in the evening). New Year's is shrine visiting over the first three days, meeting family, eating settchi foods and miso. It's a nice time. February is bitter winds, March is sneezing (I am allergic to the Japanese cedar).

There are some nice lights in Kobe from late Nov to Xmas, the Luminaria. It started after the Kobe quake, and is a whole street decorated with various lighting, and full of young couples hand-in-hand.

edit: Kyoto, BTW, gets lots of snow, and it's not so far from Kobe...