Last year I was in Tokyo for Christmas. What, why and how was it? I will go through this in my blogpost regarding Christmas in Tokyo.
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This is my 5th blogpost in my 12-day Christmas Advent Calendar 2018 – hope you enjoy it and happy holidays!
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After my exchange to Seoul last year I decided to stay in Asia for a bit more after the semester ended. Then we decided to fly to Tokyo from Seoul and spend Christmas in Tokyo. It was great – there is always something to do there and staying for Christmas in Tokyo was no exception.
This was my first Christmas and New Year far away from home. And it sure was great. Christmas is more for friends and significant others in Japan and since I was there with four other friends it was really fun. We also did secret Santa on Christmas Eve. 🙂
Christmas in Tokyo: holiday markets and Christmas lights
There are plenty of Christmas markets in Tokyo and they are great at decorating to create that Christmas feeling. Lights, trees and Santa Claus – safe to say I have plenty of photos from my trip to Tokyo.
We found a nice Christmas market in Roppongi, Tokyo Minato. There we could walk around and take pictures and enjoy the business of the holiday market. You can also find Christmas lights in for example Tokyo Station and Harajuku.
Christmas cake
Apparently it is common to eat Christmas cake and this is of course what we did as well.
Strawberries are a winter berry for them, which is different for me as in Finland we eat strawberries in the summer months.
Public holidays in Japan in December
Wondering what days are public holidays in Japan? As they do not celebrate Christmas as we do in Sweden or Finland, it is not a public holiday. But they do celebrate Emperors birthday on 23rd December, and this year it falls on a Sunday so Monday 24th December is a public holiday.
Thinking of spending Christmas Eve in Tokyo? Then be prepared for a lot of people. But not too much, everything just works.
Happy holidays everyone!
PS. My boyfriend also said that they usually have sushi for dinner as well as all the other traditional food on Christmas Eve in Finland. Great tradition I would say!