This year our family met in Tokyo, Japan for Christmas. Since our family is spread out over the world, we now vacation by destination. We chose Japan since our oldest daughter and her husband live here.

We have made many trips to Japan since Bethany, our daughter, moved there in 2015. However, this is the first time we have been in Tokyo during the holidays. The Muncy and Hisada family are foodies, so a lot of our vacation time is led by restaurants and food. Japan has a wonderful variety of foods and restaurants. We are in the right place for this foodie family tribe!

Christmas is celebrated more as a couples day, similar to Valentine’s Day in Japan. It is not a national holiday and most people work on Christmas day. Santa-San does visit Japan (-san is an honorific similar to Ms., Mr., or Mrs.), and presents are exchanged, but Christmas is not the big holiday in the land of the rising sun!

Kentucky Fried Chicken from KFC is the meat of choice on Christmas with a two month reservation time for the tasty bird! The Colonel’s face is easy to find sporting a Santa Hat and a bucket full of chicken. My husband, Rob tried the teriyaki chicken sandwich from KFC and it was delicious. KFC needs to bring that sandwich to America!

Christmas cake is also a standard for the holidays. It is a delicious sponge cake filled with whipped cream and strawberries. The cake is decorated with Santa-San and other Christmas decor.  We devoured the whole delicious concoction after dinner at the Hisada’s home. Japan has many bakeries filled with delicious breads and baked goods. It is a challenge not to go home several pounds heavier!

The current Emperor of Japan’s birthday is December 23rd. Japan observed a 3-day national holiday to celebrate his birthday. Next year, a new Emperor will be chosen and the birthday celebration will change according to his birth. The Emperor usually reigns throughout his lifetime. However; this will be the first time in Japanese history that the Emperor is retiring.

We visited a lovely Christmas village in Rippongi with a European theme. Nutcrackers, reindeer and warm tasty drinks and snacks were to be found among the display booths. Later that night, we walked through an impressive light display called Illumination!

New Years is the bigger holiday in Japan. This national holiday is celebrated from December 31st through January 4th. People enjoy having an extended holiday and are scurrying about buying groceries, presents, and preparations for the New Year!  Our daughter lives in Tokyo, so with over 36 million people living in greater Tokyo metropolitan area, the crowds are huge, the trains and stores are full. We are very glad to have a daughter and son-in-law that are comfortable maneuvering through the massive crowds and stations! The crowds, trains, language and different cultural customs can be very overwhelming to these Indiana foreigners.

In spite of the cultural difference between Japan and Indiana, many things are the same. We all love our family and friends! Holidays are a time to celebrate the love and bond with the special people in our lives, no matter who you’re with, or where you find yourself in this great, big world!

We are grateful to have been blessed with a wonderful extended family in Japan. It was fantastic to get to spend this special time of year with everyone!

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and will have a blessed New Year in 2019!