Divine times

Well, it’s been a long Christmas holiday... All family members joined and we had a great time. It is also a very pleasant time of the year, staying in Tokyo, it turned out. Weather is bearable (almost warm, compared to Sweden) and all the national holidays makes the time a relaxing and very enjoyable.

Christmas, as probably is the “biggest” holiday in Sweden, is also celebrated in Japan. But it is quite different from back home. There are surprisingly much of Christmas decorations in the streets and the shops try to gain as much us possible from it. I read in the paper that the Japanese women buy the most expensive Christmas gifts – to themselves :-) Otherwise the most widespread way to celebrate Christmas seems to be to join with you friends in a restaurant to have a Christmas party. The two “musts” for at Swede is to attend a ceremony in church and watch Disney on the 24th. All adults in my age has grown up with this specific program, which been running for around 40 years. The program last one hour and show some highlights from classical cartoons. It used to be the only occasion in Sweden during the year that we actually could see Disney on TV and that probably contributed to make it such a special moment. If you happen to be in Sweden on this day and get out at around 3.00 on the 24th, you will probably not see a single person, everything is closed and standing still and everyone is watching TV. Not very spiritually, is it?

New Year is probably the most important holiday in Japan. More then 90 million people visits a Shrine and pay their respects, to get a happy new year. We went to Meji Shrine nearby our home – and so did 3 million others. Imagine almost half the population in Sweden. But now everything is back to normal. Up early, prepare lunchboxes, commuting, hours in office, get home, eat, homework, sleep, up early and so forth.