Christmas In Asian Countries.

As we all know the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the Birth Of Jesus. Not all countries though have a large majority of their population that is Christian. Many asian countries such as Japan and China only have a christian population of 1%. Even though the large majority of people in these countries are Buddhist, they still celebrate Christmas but not exactly the same way we do of course.

In Japan Christmas Eve is celebrated and treated like Christmas day. It is considered more of a romantic holiday as well (kind of like how we treat valentines day here). It s widely celebrated by couples and usually couples go out to dinner or take a stroll out on the town to view Christmas Lights. Booking a table at a nice romantic restaurant can be extremely difficult around this time of year because it is a very popular  custom to go out on a dinner date.

In Japan, Santa is called Santa san (Mr. Santa) and instead of leaving gifts under the tree he leaves one gift on a child's bed. The Japanese Santa is a little more careful about getting dirty on the job, forget about coming down a soot filled chimney and possibly becoming a roasted Santa upon trying to enter a house, In Japan, Santa comes in through the window! I guess he does this because he knows that the chances of him getting shot for breaking and entering In Japan are very low seeing how it is illegal to own a gun in Japan (well unless you are a hunter, hunters are allowed to have shotguns and rifles only).

There is something that I found very strange about Japan and Christmas. As most of you all know here in the states most families usually have a nice Christmas dinner that is usually not that different from Thanksgiving (well at least I know at my house we do). KFC is a VERY busy place during Christmas time in Japan because it is tradition to eat fried chicken dinner on Christmas. Crazy right? Most families have to place their orders in advanced because so many people follow this tradition.

In China, Christmas is usually only celebrated in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. In outside villages and smaller town most people do not even know what Christmas is. Shen Dan Lao Ren is what Santa is called in China (sounds like something I would order at a restaurant hardy har) His name translates to old man christmas. I think is it pretty ironic that most of the world's plastic Christmas trees and ornaments are made in China yet most of the people in the factories that made them do not even know what the products they are making are used for. 

cute liddo christmas cake. In Japan it is tradition to make a cake with christmas decorations on top of it. Usually a sponge cake is made but I saw many cute ones online that were more elaborate.