As much as I have got (back) into celebrating Christmas in recent years, the number of  festive films, songs, jumpers and so on really cannot make up for being surrounded by family and friends. I can’t say I ever thought it would happen so imagine my surprise when my sister first announced the idea of her family all coming to Japan (from their home in Australia) this winter including the main dates (24th and 25th! 23rd as well as I consider Christmas Eve Eve to important too!) at our place in Tokyo. The picture below was actually taken to send to a friend on Christmas Eve morning to show that our favourite festive film ‘Jingle All The Way‘ (1996) was being played which explains why the family are only in the corner of the shot!

A shot to show the whole living room!!

With my wife working early on the 25th we decided to do it European-style and exchange a few presents on Christmas Eve. As is often the case, the dog received the highest number of presents with a few very Aussie ones included.

The rest of the night before Christmas was spent just sitting around and chatting whilst  ‘Home Alone‘ (1990) played in the background.

The kids still received stockings full of Christmas presents which were opened the following morning as is customary in our tradition. I will no doubt write another post early next year which gives far more detail about what we did and where we went with the family during their time in Tokyo.

Santa’s been & he delivered a load of Japanese snacks!

My long time friends Richard and Mizuki were back in Japan for a December holiday with their kids and we all met up for conveyor-belt sushi a few days before Christmas Day. I forgot to take a photo of us all there but remembered in a book shop before I departed although Mizuki had already gone to do her remote work then.

Lads, lads, lads!

Since the sh*tshow that was 2020, I have begun to get into the Christmas spirit the moment Halloween is out of the way. Back then it was something of an excuse for wanting to celebrate the jolly season and it’s just stuck with me ever since then. Not everyone (well most people!) is not so keen though so the post below got something of a negative reaction with comments like “keep it in the box for another 5-6 weeks” and so on! As it was, I didn’t actually get round to putting it up till November 12th which was later than last year!

My main tradition in recent years has been to watch all of the Hallmark channel’s festive films which are part of their Countdown to Christmas season which began on October 20th! I waited until Halloween had finished before getting started early November which of course is still way too early for most people. Along with a few others, the full list is at the foot of this post. Be patient though and don’t scroll down in haste as things are just getting started here!

Another major feature of the festive season is the wearing of Christmas jumpers. With an ever-growing collection of ugly sweaters I started wearing them extra early this year just to basically get a bit of a reaction from people! The ‘Home Alone‘ reference one below was the most subtle one to start things off slowly before getting more and more extreme.

The most ridiculous and over-the-top one came out in my final week of work. I did not believe any of the compliments it received for a second!

With six festive sweaters to my name, I have got more than enough but I wouldn’t have minded some of the new creations from Classic Football Shirts which included this Christmas tree variation (below) based on the iconic Japan 1998 goalkeeper shirt. 

In terms of real Christmas trees, I only saw a few of note this year. First up were the various ones that make up the Marunouchi Bright Christmas 2023 with displays relating to Disney. Previous ones have included Star Wars and Harry Potter.

The first one I saw back in November was slightly more unconventional by way of this cyber tree!

The changing-colour tree at Tokyo Dome City in Bunkyo-ku was one I went slightly out of my way to see, and was probably just about worth it. There were some nice illumination displays in the vicinity too.

I’m still not too sure what this Christmas Circus display (below) on the 11th floor of Shibuya Hikarie was all about!

HikariELF

When it comes to decorations at home my wife likes the more simple and stylish look whilst I love the cheap and tacky appearance which was ramped up this time with the inclusion of a huge Santa inflatable balloon or two! It didn’t take too long for the first (cheaper) one to feel deflated.

The second one was bigger and fared better. The dog wouldn’t go too close to the first one but he didn’t seem to mind the next incarnation of the main man!

As for food, these festive bakewells were very tasty and a reminder of home even if they did come from Australia thanks to my sister.

These posts are not 100% festive related usually and tend to include various stuff I’ve tried in the seven weeks leading up to the big day such as these natto flavoured crisps that were similar to prawn crackers in texture and taste. I later shared a packet with my sister’s family but that was as close as they got to eating anything natto-related in Japan!

Last year was the first time to introduce the traffic lights energy drink challenge which basically just consists of consuming one red, yellow and green coloured beverage but it didn’t quite go to plan this Christmas!

Joyeux Noël is Merry Christmas in French so what better way to start Christmas on Deceember 1st (not really the start for me as that’s a month earlier!!) than seeing……(tedious alert!)…….Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Tokyo Garden Theater in Ariake! Anyone who has ever heard Noel talk about Christmas though will know he’s not a big fan of the festive season at all. Maybe that’s why he played so many tour dates in December!

A week later I was at Tokyo ComicCon and there were some Star Wars/Christmas crossovers such as this Darth Vader and stormtrooper.

Christmas is all about snow and ice so what better place to include my trip to see some ice hockey than this post. It didn’t really merit its own post on Tokyo Fox but it is (perhaps) worthy of inclusion here just for the aforementioned tenuous cold connection!

That was Christmas 2023 in Tokyo then and if you got this far then I’d like to wish YOU a (belated) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Click on the following links to read about Christmas in Tokyo for previous years:

2022   2021   2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

(*) All movies are from 2023 unless noted otherwise…

1. Checkin’ It Twice; 2. Where Are You, Christmas?; 3. Under The Christmas Sky; 4. Christmas By Design; 5. Mystic Christmas; 6. Joyeux Noel; 7. Flipping For Christmas; 8. Never Been Chris’d; 9. The Santa Summit; 10. A Gingerbread Christmas (2022); 11. Noel Next Door (2022); 12. Everything Christmas; 13. Christmas Island; 14. A Heidelberg Holiday; 15. A Christmas Frequency; 16. Navigating Christmas; 17. A Merry Scottish Christmas; 18. Holiday Hotline; 19. Christmas Time Capsule; 20. Christmas Keepsake; 21. Reporting For Christmas; 22. Catch Me If You Claus; 23. Holiday Road; 24. Christmas In Notting Hill; 25. Letters To Santa; 26. Haul Out The Holly: Lit Up; 27. Christmas At The Holly Day Inn; 28. Best. Christmas. Ever!; 29. Ms. Christmas Comes To Town; 30. Our Christmas Mural; 31. A Biltmore Christmas; 32. My Norwegian Holiday; 33. A Not So Royal Christmas; 34. Christmas With A Kiss; 35. Magic In Mistlotoe; 36. Christmas On Cherry Lane; 37. Round And Round; 38. There’s Something In The Barn; 39. The Secret Gift Of Christmas; 40. Friends & Family Christmas; 41. Sealed With A List; 42. The Santa Stakeout (2021); 43. Help For The Holidays (2012); 44. Jingle All The Way (1996); 45. Home Alone (1990); 46. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992).