Here in Japan they can't tear down the Halloween decorations fast enough at the end of the month, only to puke up the red and green crap twelve hours later - and then when December 25th comes (not 26th, mind you, the TWENTY-FIFTH right at closing time, sometimes the day before even) they tear that crap down just as fast in order to get ready for the NEXT "special" holiday. I must be getting cynical in my old age, because all I see is a heap of commercialized, overpriced garbage. I have to wonder if any of *them* are cynical about it, but I suppose when there's a buck to be made... I think I'll just start celebrating "friends and family" day, every day, and make that my holiday season. Anyone with me?
Aren't most Japanese Shinto or Buddhist? Why would they care about a Christian holiday? Why do they care about Halloween at all?
1) yes. yes they are. 2) because it's fun and colorful (plus cake and fried chicken!). 3) because it's fun and colorful (plus candy and costumes!).
For me personally, I make a point to not put up any Christmas decorations or listen to Christmas music (as much as I love it) until after Thanksgiving. I also make a point to keep it up through the end of the Christmas season (January 6), even though most places have it gone long before then. I know it doesn't make big difference in the grand scheme of things, but it makes me feel better A few years ago, my brother spent a couple months in Dublin and he noticed that the Christmas decorations went up much earlier than in the US. Although Thanksgiving isn't exactly a huge holiday for decorations in public spaces, there's still the pretense that Christmas stuff shouldn't go up until around then, so most people turn a blind eye to it. Without Thanksgiving in Ireland, it was free season on Christmas immediately following Halloween (which isn't a major holiday there to begin with) I still think the worst is Disneyland in Anaheim, which typically has the castle covered in snow and New Orleans Square all decked out by around October 25, and continues to have their upcharge Halloween parties through the end of the month. I realize there are logistical hurdles for them with the amount of decorations they have for both holidays, but it just seems silly
Same here, except that now Halloween is huge, so it's one blaringly loud four month *thing* that's impossible to differentiate, save for the sudden shift from one obnoxious color scheme to the other in mid-stream. Blech.
Well, New Years definitely. I was going to say the Tanabata "star festival" in July as well, but looking that up it seems to be of Chinese origin. That's one of those neat times of year that you can see Mickey and Minnie in Kimono's anyway (New Years being the other). But generally speaking, Disney is an "American" experience — so although they do occasional nods to Japanese culture, for the most part they don't delve too deep into it (which makes sense, really).
