Merry Christmas Yall!

Today is Christmas here in Japan. So Merry Fucking Christmas you bastards! I know a lot of us gaijin living in Japan may be having a hard time finding the Christmas spirit due to the fact that Christmas is not a `real` holiday in Japan. Most of us will be working today(me included). Yet despite the awkwardness many of us may feel during this holiday season, we must make the best of the situation.


I got a few e-mails yesterday from a few of my fellow gaijin expressing a very down and out feeling about Christmas in Japan. As usual, I refuse to let Japan kill the Christmas spirit in my country ass. Instead I have decided to roll with the punches and work with what I got at hand. Yesterday, I planned out a pretty good Christmas evening with my gal. We reserved one of those take-out KFC Christmas dinner packs. Yes, I gave in and did the whole KFC Christmas thing; like I said I am working with what I got at hand. It is actually not a bad deal. We got a good variety of chicken with good old American style biscuits included. For 2,800 yen it makes for a right decent Christmas dinner.


I met the gal in Kita-Senju to pick up the dinner and do a little extra Christmas shopping together. We had already exchanged gifts a few days ago but decided to shop together and buy a little extra something for each other. I can`t get her anything from Tiffany`s like I did last year but I was able to get her something she wanted. It is the thought that counts anyway. It is a nice change of pace to enjoy a Christmas not focused on buying some crazy expensive item. It was really nice to just spend time with the gal. We ended up buying each other a little something. Before we left we picked a couple slices of Christmas cake.

When we got home it was time to enjoy the little fest we had set up for ourselves. We set our little meal up on a table and enjoyed some good chicken and pleasant conversation. I was even able to find a Christmas music complication on Youtube to set the mood.

For some people it all might seem a bit lame but the gal and I really enjoyed ourselves. A quiet evening at home just enjoying each other`s company meant more than any big fancy celebration. I don`t know about the rest of yall in Japan but I am living the real meaning of Christmas this year.

Winter in Japan is Now Full On

It has been cold as a witches titty here in Tokyo recently. We have not gotten any snow but it was a sign that winter is now full on here in the land of the raising sun. As usual it will more than likely not snow in Tokyo this winter. Yet, it will get colder than a nun on Sunday. I do not see anymore warm days coming for several months. Those icy days of January will be here before we realize it.

I usually adjust the cold weather in Japan pretty well. Despite my hate of cold weather I can deal with it pretty good in most cases. Winter in West Virginia can get really bad. A person living in the mountains of West Virginia can expect three or four brutal blizzards of year. It is not uncommon for an entire village or town to be completely shut down due to a snow fall. The only places I expect this kind of thing happening in Japan is in the northern region.

Winter is Tokyo does have its pitfalls. The wind can be really hard to deal with at times. The wind whips around the buildings and smacks you in face with an unforgiving sick joy what only old man winter can appreciate. While I am drugging off to work the sting of the wind hitting my face puts me in a right proper shitty mood. Hell, during the winter I actually look forward to getting on the train and warming my cold ass on the heated seat.

There is also the pure magic joy of no central heat in Japan. Now, I have lived here for a while so I am used this fact of life in Japan. The Japanese have come up with some interesting ways to off set the lack of central heat. The method to keep warm I like the most is the kotatsu. It works really well to keep me from freezing to death in my own apartment. During the winter in Japan, few things beat a cold night than a bottle of sake, warm soup and a gal warped around ya while bundled up under a kotatsu.

Anyway, I wanna hear what all of you think of winter in Japan and how yall keep warm.