It was always going to be impossible to equal the feeling of having my eldest sister and her family with us as was the case last Christmas. From one extreme to the other as this year my wife was at work between the 23rd and 26th December meaning that it was just me and our little chihuahua in the daytime for that period this time. I’m not complaining about that by the way as it’s quite heavenly in many ways!

Which secret agents are most active at Christmas? Mince spies!!

For many years I did my best to avoid spending this time of year in Japan and the only Christmas activity I really indulged in ahead of trips back to the UK were the festive themed lessons at work.

Step into Christmas…

Although that’s still a big part of my Christmas build-up, the last ten years have seen a load of other seasonal activities added to the list as I’ve predominantly spent them all at home in Tokyo. Things were a little behind schedule this year and our tree didn’t go up until November 10th!!

In recent years I have seen a few memes saying things like “It’s not Christmas till you’ve seen Hans Gruber fall from the Nakatomi Plaza Building” so with that in mind I did begin my festive viewing with ‘Die Hard‘ (1988) on the same day our tree went up which is a little later than usual for starting my annual Christmas movie marathon. Whether it’s actually a Christmas film has long been a really boring debate but as I’ve included it here I guess I do consider it a festive film……even though I don’t really!

A common seating arrangment for such festive viewing!

All of the Hallmark Channel movies were consumed off the back of that along with some  other new ones from Netflix as well as a few classics.

Not the only one to have no interest in such films!!

If you desperately wanna know how many festive films I watched in total then keep reading……or just scroll on down to the bottom of this post!

32 formulaic films in total!

There were no illuminations for me this year and the only place I went to see any Christmas trees was the Yokohama Minatomirai ‘Spark Joy’ event which had a few themed displays.

The Star Wars side of this event was covered in full in this post in early December but that was just part of it as there were various other exhibits from Disney, Pixar and Marvel.

If this doesn’t spark joy then I don’t know what will!!

There was a ‘Frozen‘ crystal tree at Mark IS shopping mall along with some other photo opportunites related to the musical fantasy film.

Far removed from those exquisite trees is this free 24 hour open-air museum-of-sorts in North Ikebukuro which houses a load of interesting pop-cultural clutter, and even that was given something of a festive makeover for the Christmas season.

In terms of food, it’s also slim pickings this year with just a few sweet eateries including a couple of Santa-themed goodies as well as a chocolate log-style delicacy.

Back in 2021 I decided to make my own Christmas coloured jägerbomb of sorts combining red (Red Bull) and green (Monster) energy drinks. The following year I extended it to a traffic lights concoction and that has since become a staple of the holiday season for me now.

A slightly new line-up this year!

Rewinding back all the way to November 1st (that’s when Christmas begins right?!) and I was reunited with Swedish friend Ida after 24 years. She was in Tokyo for a week or so with her daughter so I met them for dinner and a walk around Ikebukuro and Otsuka which was really nice.

I used to include anything and everything that happened between the start of November and Christmas Day in these posts but I won’t bother this time as there wasn’t too much going on for me outside of the various sport events I attended. I will include just one of them here as figure skating has a slightly festive feel to it as temporary outdoor ice-rinks tend to pop up in a few places around Tokyo. They’re just for fun of course and far removed from this world tournament which was my first live taste of the winter sport.

That was Christmas 2024 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:

2023   2022   2021   2020   2019   2018   2017   2016   2015

(*) All movies are from 2024 unless noted otherwise…

1. Die Hard (1988); 2. Meet Me Next Christmas; 3. ‘Twas The Date Before Christmas; 4. Holiday Crashers; 5. Scouting For Christmas; 6. Operation Nutcracker; 7. The Christmas Charade; 8. The 5-Year Christmas Party; 9. A Carol For Two; 10. Our Holiday Story; 11. Hot Frosty; 12. Holiday Mismatch; 13. Trivia At St. Nick’s; 14. Santa Tell Me; 15. Christmas In Notting Hill (2023); 16. The Merry Gentlemen; 17. Tis The Season To Be Irish; 18. Christmas With The Singhs; 19. Jingle Bell Run; 20. Confessions of A Christmas Letter; 21. Chtristmas On Call; 22. Three Wiser Men And A Boy; 23. Dear Santa; 24. To Have And To Holiday; 25. Debbie Macomber’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle; 26. A ’90s Christmas: 27. Deck The Walls; 28. Believe In Christmas; 29. Holiday Touchdown: A Chief’s Love Story; 30. The Finnish Line; 31. The Christmas Quest; 32. Private Princess Christmas; 33. Sugarplummed; 34. Our Little Secret; 35. Leah’s Perfect Gift; 36. Nutcrackers; 37. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever; 38. Never Kiss A Man In A Christmas Sweater (2020); 39. Hanukkah On The Rocks; 40. The Santa Class; 41. Following Vonder Star; 42. A Kiss Before Christmas (2021); 43. Next Stop, Christmas (2021); 44. A Very Charming Christmas Town (2020); 45. Checkin’ It Twice (2023); 46. A Merry Scottish Christmas (2023); 47. Happy Howlidays; 48. A Gingerbread Christmas (2022); 48. Carry On; 49. Noel Next Door (2022); 50. That Christmas; 51. Jingle All The Way (1996); 52. The Santa Stakeout (2021); 53. Home Alone (1990); 54. Red One; 55. Boyfriends of Christmas Past (2021).