Does Japan celebrate Christmas?

What day do people in japan celebrate Christmas?

• Answer:

  In Japan, Christmas is a commercial, romantic holiday, sort of like Valentine's Day is celebrated in the United States. Gifts are exchanged, a special strawberry and whipped cream Christmas cake is served, and couples have special dinners together. Traditionally, this is celebrated on Christmas Eve, December 24th. Neither the 24th nor the 25th is an official holiday though, so people are still expected to go to work and school on both days. A previous answerer mentioned that Christmas is a 'universal' holiday, and always celebrated on December 25th. Not true! Only countries with majority Christian populations mark Christmas as an official holiday. Countries like Japan, where less than 1% of the holiday is Christian, don't consider it official. For that matter, December 25th is an arbitrary date: no one knows for sure when Jesus Christ was born, so the actual date it's celebrated is more a matter of custom, rather than religion.