Christmas in Tokyo Doesn't Make Sense/Santa and Sumo Don't Mix...

i was on Grooveshark, looking at Christmas songs to add to my Christmas playlist (the poor man's way to listen to music) and i came across this random song called "Holding on to Christmas." curious, i hit play and the first lyrics were "Christmas in Tokyo doesn't make sense/Santa and Sumo don't mix..." and i was hooked. it's a pretty entertaining song. and has some truth in it too. Christmas in Japan really isn't, well, Christmas. sure there are a ton of Christmas lights everywhere (called "illuminations" in Japan), there's Christmas music blaring from every store, but they have no idea what the lights represent, they have no idea what the lyrics mean in the Christmas carols...to Japan, Christmas is simply an opportunity to capitalize on the commercialism of the season. they have no idea what the true meaning of Christmas is. and therefore Christmas in Japan really doesn't feel like Christmas. there's no "Christmas spirit" as it were. most people don't celebrate at all. or if they do, it's just an excuse to go out with your boyfriend or girlfriend, hang pretty lights, and eat KFC and "Christmas cake." seriously. some genius at KFC decided to advertise fried chicken as an "American Christmas tradition" and ever since it's been a staple of Japanese Christmas dinners. in fact, i even ate some last night. along with a Christmas cake from 7/11.

last year i spent Christmas with my STINT team. this year, since i had no STINT team, i went to my church's Christmas concert on Christmas Eve day, spent some time catching up with people, did some last minute Christmas shopping, then ate my very Japanese Christmas dinner and watched Elf with my roommate. this morning i went over to my Tokyo director's house and spent the day with his family. we ate french toast, sang Christmas carols, opened presents, skyped with my family, made fajitas and a gingerbread house, and topped it all off with watching It's a Wonderful Life. while it was definitely different than how i normally spend Christmas, it was fun to hang out with my surrogate Tokyo family. it would have been a pretty lonely Christmas without them.

tomorrow i'm taking a much needed day "off" (i still have plenty to do at home) and skyping with my team and probably my family again. i officially have 3 weeks left in Japan, so even taking a day and not spending all of it meeting students is really hard for me- my brain keeps screaming that i'm running out of time, but God is always telling me to rest and trust Him and i never do, so i'm going to do my best. i know God's going to take care of everything, but it's so hard when all i can think of is the billions of things i have to do and the impossibility of it all. but thankfully, we can do all things through Christ, so praise God for His birth!

here are some pictures to show you a bit of Christmas in Tokyo:
2 students after my church's Christmas concert- the girl in the middle, Natsumi, is not Christian yet but comes to my church every week!
Christmas Day with the Caughlans, my adopted Japan family
Mitaka Wish Tree- people write their wishes for Christmas/the New Year...there are a lot more wishes than last year me and my roommates with our Christmas decorations Christmas presents (we actually didn't open presents until December 29th b/c my roommate Christina was in Tohoku from Dec. 21st-28th

Merry Christmas everyone! God bless you!