Christmas in Japan

You know I think that it really is slowly and surely becoming a bigger and bigger deal in Japan. I feel like I am seeing more lights this year. And they sure as hell play all the Christmas songs, and there are even some in Japanese that they play. I am even pretty sure that some of my students get presents.

Funny story actually, I asked my students when they thought about when they thought about Christmas, and you know I got Santa, and presents and Christmas trees, but probably the fifth thing someone yelled out was KFC. I lost it. I laughed so hard. I told them that we didn't have KFC for Christmas, but maybe they did and that that was a tradition all of their own.
In addition to their own traditions. Strawberries are grow for exorbitant prices out of season just to make their little Christmas cakes. Like 700 yen for a basket. And yet people buy them. Gotta have them some of that Christmas cake. No Christmas is complete without it.

So last Christmastime I went to both Osaka and Arashiyama for seeing the 'Christmas lights' they put up at this time of year. In Arashiyama, this counts as throwing up some green and blue accent lights accenting the bamboo forest, well it also has a few excessive flower arrangements as well. In Osaka it was that amazing light show and their Chirstmas wonderland which was a (kind of sad looking) Christmasy light display on that little island between the two rivers. Osaka also put on one of my Christmas favorites, German Christmastown. A really fantastic set up over at the Umeda Sky Building with mulled wine, a big jolly Santa and lots of imported German goodies: wood workings and carousels and clocks and Christmas ornaments, even the people, they shipped some people from Germany over just for this occasion.
This year I went to Kobe. I got to see the grand luminarie which is really in honor of the earthquake victims from a decades and change back. They put on this really grand illumination every year and it is free. The line is so long to see it, it goes on for kilometers and is heavily patrolled by police with metal blockades  Pretty impressive in that alone. One you arrive to it, it is over actually pretty quickly or it would be if you and everyone else would quit taking pictures. This is no parade of lights you see, it is a much quicker event than that...though perhaps a little more grandiose. This event doesn't actually cost anything, but they would really like you to donate 100 yen. There are places set up all over to accept it. The 100 yen is to cover the cost of electricity for the event, or so it is said. Sadly they come up in the red every year. But Good Guy Kobe continuously puts it on year after year, because it just isn't Christmas in the Kansai area without these symbolic lights.
Another thing I got a chance to see this year was a luminary out in the mountains around Maibara Kyoto (so you have to have a car to get there). It primarily consists of a little stream and a bunch of trees decked out to each and every twig with some white and blue LED lights. There was also a waterfall that they illuminate and a castle like structure they build out of a bunch of blue LEDs. This one also costs money, but instead of a donation, they require you to pay 500 yen. And for what it is, and the fact that you have to drive out to it. That is pretty over priced, but romantic, so it happened anyways.
But by far the best Christmas adventure viewing you can see is free and it is at Kyoto station. They have a wonderful color changing Christmas tree set up on the upper levels of the outdoor terrace, above Cafe du Monde and Mister Doughnut. But it is not just that that is magical. Their enormous staircase, just in front of the tree. All of the stairs are decked out in LEDs and will put on a light display every so often. And apparently a fairly long one as I sat there for 10 minutes and it had yet to loop back around.

Matsuri! on a Boat!

Only there was no T. Pain on this boat.
In Arashiyama this past weekend there was a special matsuri going on. What makes this matsuri so different is that it takes place on boats! Traditionally, in all of the preceding matsuris I have seen, they have all taken the form of elaborate mikoshi with people carrying them around and making their way to the shrine.

So you might be thinking how on earth does one have a festival on a boat. Well about 13 different shrines from all over Kyoto prefecture sponsor a boat and they put on a performance, such as a dance or tea ceremony in front of the Tokgetsu bridge in Arashiyama. Supposedly there was even a Noh play on one of the boats. The boats move in a circular fashion around the lake to appease their large crowd on both banks.

Clad in elaborate costumes and elegant kimono's the entourage of the boats are as much as of the performance as the dancers. These people sit along the sides and rear of the boat as the performance takes center stage on the boat. Some of these people function as singers, singing traditional songs that are possibly for purification, and are often heard at their respective shrine; others would play various instruments such as the gong seen below. The performers donning the most elaborate costume and often a mask or an object with which they dance (a fan, a hat, these things?...).

The name of this matsuri happens to be Momoji Matsuri. For anyone who does not know, momiji is the term for the beautiful fall foliage that Japan is so known for. Unfortunately, this matsuri was planned a little too early and the leave have yet to fully turn therefore having a very slight but still present mottled effect of green and orange tinged leaves.

In addition to watching the matsuri from the riverside, you can also rent boats and tour around the lake. Even during the matsuri allowing you a very up close opportunity to view the festivities.