Adventures in Japan

Last Christmas I told You To Stop Singing That Horrible Song

This is the post where I talk about Christmas.

Christmas, despite all of the lights and displays and constant carolling on the sound systems, is not all that big a deal here. Christmas was, as you may remember, on a Saturday this year and yet both Carla and I still ended up working. It's just another day of the week, not a holiday or anything. To be fair, the 23rd was a holiday, the Emperor's birthday. And New Year's is the big event in these parts. It's the time of year when families all get together and celebrate and maybe go to a temple or shrine. Christmas is more of an excuse to get drunk. Sort of the opposite of back home.

So I worked. Not teaching or anything, I just sat in the office for many hours, wondering what I was supposed to be doing and when I would be allowed to go home. I got home, or the station near home where I was meeting Carla, a little before 7. The big Christmas meal in these parts is fried chicken. We thought about getting some KFC, or Kentakkii as it is known here, but instead got some marked down fried chicken from a supermarket. It was... greasy.

I know this is all sounding a bit... I sound kind of bitter. But I'm not. Not really. But I AM a bit homesick. I mean, all you back home get delicious dinners and warm houses and family and all that. We ate greasy chicken and then did laundry. Also, the bathroom ceiling is trying to kill us.


At around 1 in the morning we called home and that was nice. It was nice talking to family and hearing that everyone is doing well. Ry has a part in a movie and is working for WestJet. Dad is a loudmouthed MP and I don't think I've ever been more proud of him. So yeah, it was real nice to talk to everyone, but kind of sad too, because... well because we aren't there. But we're in Japan and Japan is lovely and a New Year is coming up and it will be full of stuff.


On Boxing Day (not that they know what Boxing Day is over here), we went out and looked at all the pretty lights they had on display. They were kind of pretty. Shame about the Celine Dion.

Now all I have to do is clean up the apartment with Carla (it's very important to ring in the new year with everything clean, my last day of work was spent scrubbing the office), figure out what to do with the boys when they get here in the middle of January, figure out how to tell my bosses that I'm quitting (I'm leaning toward blaming it on Carla), and figure out how to tell my adoring public that I will probably be staying in Japan until spring 2006. Haven't figured out what to do about that last one.