response 587 of 588:

Dec 24 01:59 UTC 2003

Re#578: The holiday is to celebrate Emperor Akihito's birthday (Tenno
no tanjobi no hi).

According to our friends at the CIA:
    http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html#People,

Japanese that "observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including
Christian 0.7%)".  But don't let statistics like that distract you.
Christmas is alive and well, if not transplanted entirely unscathed into
the Japanese milieu.

Keep in mind that the Japanese I've probably met personally are a small
slice of 127 million at large across the archipelago and most of those are
cityfolk living in Tokyo or Kyoto.  Having said that, my own experience
is that folks quite enjoy the Christmas spirit, at least in terms of
the lights, traditional music and the occasional Santa running around.
For many younger folks, Christmas is more like valentines day and they see
it as an occasion to go out on a "hot-o date-o" in some romantic locale.

Some of the stores treat it more like a sporting event with posters
touting "Christmas 2003!" (for our American readers, imagine this
being said by a Japanese announcer with a voice like the fellow who used
to do the "World of Wheels! Wheels!  Wheels!" adverts for the super car
shows).  

Personally, we find that if you are not too fussed about the details and
willing to celebrate approximately around the 25th rather than necessarily
on the exact date it's quite easy to get into the holiday spirit.  The
25th may not a business holiday but the emperors birthday just before is.
Wait a few days and you may avail yourself of new years, a national three
day event in indurance drinking.  And if you are on social terms with
your neighbors as we are, it's never a challenge to scare up a crowd to
share in some seasonal cheer...or as the case may be, "kompai!" :-)