Christmas in Tokyo

The Christmas Poinsettia Tree (aka our Christmas tree)

Beautiful!

We're on our own again in Tokyo for Christmas.  But no worries, we have lots of fun stuff planned for the weekend.  

First we have a brilliant sunset, thanks to some low-lying clouds.  This is from my phone camera, and then I ran for the good camera, but by that time the light had changed.  It's still a pretty picture.

Delicious!

Now that we've been here a year, I'm more aware of some of the Japanese traditions (though I'm still learning, as you'll soon find out).  Last year I discovered too late that people will order a decorated cake for Christmas.  This may have developed post-WWII, when sweets were limited and only people with money were able to afford them. The US military would hand out candy, etc during the holidays, and as a Japanese middle class grew over the years, they could afford sugary items and it became accepted as part of the celebration.  Today it's developed into cake, which traditionally is shortbread and strawberries - similar to a strawberry shortcake.  But the bakeries here will do all sorts of fancy ones, and they can cost as much as $300.  I decide to go with a coconut-pineapple concoction (even though I place our order weeks before Christmas, certain ones are already sold out).  

Our chicken dinner - it has a rice stuffing inside.

Our apartment building has it's own restaurant (which I liked better before they did the remodel) but they are having a special this weekend with a rotisserie chicken, side items and a bottle of champagne that can be delivered to your apartment.  We decide it's too good a deal to pass up, so we enjoy a special meal at home.

They should have been playing the Chicken Dance song instead of carols.

On Christmas Eve, we're off to the theater!  Rent, one of our favorite musicals, is in Tokyo during it's world tour.  We get tickets for the matinee performance.  As we walk outside the theater, I see a Christmas tree made up of snowmen...no, wait....it's chickens.  Chickens?!?  I have no idea where that comes from, but I make Steve do the chicken dance beside it so I can take his picture.


The musical is performed by an American cast (or they all spoke with American accents) and it's nice to hear English spoken (or sung) for an extended period of time.  There are electronic screens on either side of the stage displaying the content in Japanese.  It's well done, so it doesn't distract from the performance, but you could read it and still see the action on the stage.  I'm tempted to learn some Japanese curse words (there's lots of "bad" language in the show) but I'm enjoying the production too much to focus on the translation.

"Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes..."

We have tickets for the matinee so we can go out for a nice dinner afterwards.  About a week before Christmas Eve I start calling for reservations, and I find out every place is booked.  This is how I learn about another Japanese custom - going out for a romantic dinner on Christmas Eve, similar to what we do in the US on Valentine's Day.  So all our favorite restaurants have special meals planned, but they're already full (unless we want to eat at 5:00pm or 10:00pm and neither time is appealing).  After calling ten restaurants, I finally try one of our favorites, W Cellar, which is normally fully booked on Saturdays anyway - but they have availability for 7:00pm.  Yes!  

The line goes on, and on, and on...

So after watching Rent we're on our way to the restaurant when we walk by a KFC.  I have to stop and take a picture of the line.  I had always heard that Japanese eat KFC at Christmas, but it's when I see the huge wait that I believe it.  I've heard two stories explaining this - one is there was a marketing campaign that advertised KFC for Christmas, and the other is when expats stayed in Tokyo over the holidays, the closest item they could get to turkey was chicken, and Japanese people ended up adopting it as part of their culture.

We finally make our way to W Cellar, and the different tapas items cooked over the charcoal grill....and the wine, of course!  We can't own a grill because of the apartment building rules, so finding a restaurant that barbecues lots of seafood and vegetables helps to make up for it.  We also love sitting at the bar and watching the chef work - Steve's picked up a few ideas to try out when we go home.

Our wine being decanted

Cooking on the grill!

Plenty of leg room!

On Christmas day we follow one of my family's traditions - going to see a movie!  I think this originally started with my father taking my sister and me, so we would be out of my mother's hair so she could take care of holiday preparations.  It persisted after we grew up, and it's something we still do.  We decide to see Rogue One, and Steve savors sitting in his favorite seats.  I have to give a shout out to Japanese engineering - these chairs are perfectly positioned so the screen completely fills your view, without your neck getting stiff.  You feel completely immersed in the movie.

Christmas selfie - a little blurry due to the dim lights

Our Christmas dinner is at our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, another part of my family's heritage, courtesy of my Italian grandmother.  While dining, I see Santa out making some late Christmas evening deliveries...

Still distributing presents to good kids!

Santa made an appearance at our table, too!

Steve helps Tie-Dye open his gifts.

Back at home, we open presents with Tie-Dye.  He's been doing okay since we lost Tahoe, but we can tell it affects him a bit.  He still loves to go for runs and he's eating, but he's not playing with toys as much.  He also hates being left alone...he always had his "big sister" to keep him company.  He's not destructive, but we can see that he's stressed by it.

He still delights in opening gifts!  After his turn, he decides to help us open our own presents.  He picks one out, slides it over with his paw, and starts tearing away.  Must be something good inside!

Tie-Dye thinks this one smells great!

After a wonderful holiday weekend, we're off to rest and recover...because we have family arriving the next day!