This is Christmas day. It is big in Japan, a country where a mere 1 percent of the population are self-proclaimed Christians.
The Japanese are incredibly flexible when it comes to the secular adaptations of religious cultures. It is customary to pay a visit to a Shinto shrine on the New Year's Day, to be wed in the Christian fashion, and do funerals in the Buddhist way. Halloween is increasingly popular in recent years, especially in and around the world-famous Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo. Such a frivolous attitude might surprise people from other parts of the world, but for a typical Japanese, it is something very natural. It is so nagomi.
From my early childhood, I have been accustomed to the idea that on the Christmas day you would get a present from Santa Claus, only to learn as you matured that it was actually from the mama or papa or combination of both. When you are a teenager you are constantly bombarded with the ads that suggest that lovers should spend a romantic few hours on the Christmas Eve. I would say that every boy and girl in Japan has been exposed to this idea at some time in life.
So when I went to the U.K. to do postdoc at the University of Cambridge, it was refreshing to know how Christmas was celebrated there. It seemed to be more of a family-oriented affair, not so commercialized, and certainly not about lovers. I was once invited over to the house of late Professor Horace Barlow for Christmas dinner. It was fascinating to wear the paper crown hats popping out of the Christmas cracker. Horace was wearing the hat, just like a five year old, beaming with a happy smile. He must have been over 70 years old then. I was impressed by the general idea that Christmas was a season of goodwill, where people would be kind to each other, giving money to the charity, celebrating humanity in general. Perhaps this aspect of Christmas is still to be imported in any substance to the land of the rising sun.
So I wish everyday of the year would be Christmas, a season of goodwill. I don't want any presents, or romantic hours for that matter. I just wish that people would be civil to each other, all year round, never thinking of waging wars or being involved in cunning plans to take advantage of people. Maybe this is too naive, but it is part of the magic of Christmas, to be naive.
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1 comment:
Dear Dr.Mogi
Merry Christmas!
Like you, I hope that the good will of all people to spread throughout the world not only at Christmas time but at every moment of our life, especially when we are facing the most difficult time perhaps since the WWⅡ. So yesterday for the first time in years, I attended the Christmas Eve service at the local church although I am not officially a Christian. Through my sincere prayers with other attendants there, I felt honestly the power of good will filling the time and space, and by singing Christmas carols, my energy from the inside glow somewhere beyond my perception.
As once I was married to a British, I know what Christmas means for the families in England. Although I've never lived in England, one winter I stayed at my ex-parents' house(sadly both passed away) in Cambridge with my children, and experienced the warm and cosy family Christmas there, nearly thirty years ago. On the Christmas day that year, I took the children to the Christmas morning service at King's College Chapel in Cambridge. We had to queue almost half an hour in a freezing cold weather. It was a shame that my children completely fell asleep during the service, exhausted after being exposed to the coldness outside. I was a stupid mother!
"Being naive" is often regard as being immature, but I believe that is the rare quality "mature" people need to possess in the bottom or their heart. So let's keep praying for the bright future to come to us all.
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