Christmas in Japan: 7 Japanese Christmas Traditions, from KFC to Yuzu Baths

Christmas in Japan is not a public holiday. On December 25th most people go to work, the trains run on time and the shops are full. Only about one percent of the country is Christian. And yet December in Japan may be the cosiest month anywhere — lights, cake, a famous bucket of chicken, a bath full of citrus and a long evening under the kotatsu. Here are seven Japanese Christmas traditions, and the winter designs they inspired.

1. Christmas Eve in Japan is a date night

In the West, Christmas is for family. In Japan, that job belongs to New Year. Christmas Eve is for couples: a walk under the winter illuminations, a nice dinner, maybe a small gift. Cities wrap whole avenues of trees in golden lights from November, and restaurants book out weeks ahead. If you have ever wondered why Japanese Christmas pop songs are so romantic, this is why.

2. Japanese Christmas cake is strawberry shortcake

Forget fruitcake. The Japanese Kurisumasu kēki is a light sponge layered with whipped cream and crowned with bright red strawberries — red and white, the colours of celebration in Japan. Bakeries and convenience stores take pre-orders from November, and on the 24th you will see people carrying white cake boxes home on the train.

3. KFC for Christmas dinner — yes, really

Since a 1974 advertising campaign, a bucket of fried chicken has become Christmas dinner for many Japanese families. It is so popular that people pre-order weeks in advance and still queue on the day. It is one of the strangest and most charming holiday stories of the modern world, and it is completely true.

4. Santa still comes — for the children

Japanese children do get a visit from Santa-san. Presents usually appear by the pillow on the morning of the 25th, and that is about it: there is rarely a big family gathering, no stockings for the grown-ups and no long dinner. Which is exactly why we imagined the cats taking over the stockings instead.

On the front of our Kutsushita Neko Hoodie it is Christmas Eve: five cats have climbed into five hand-knitted stockings hanging from a pine garland. Turn around for Christmas morning — but that part of the story belongs to tradition number seven.

5. Tōji: the winter solstice yuzu bath

The winter solstice, tōji, falls on December 21st or 22nd — the same week as Christmas. That night, many Japanese homes and public baths float whole yuzu citrus in the hot water. The bath smells of lemon and pine, and it is said to keep colds away all winter. It is called yuzu-yu, and many families also eat simmered kabocha squash for luck.

We imagined three penguins who take the tradition very seriously. The Yuzuyu Pengin Hoodie has them up to their chins in a snowy outdoor onsen, towels folded on their heads, yuzu bobbing all around — and one of them still wearing a Santa hat.

6. The Japanese snowman has only two snowballs

A Japanese snowman is a yukidaruma — a snow daruma. It is built from two snowballs, not three, because it is named after the round daruma doll, which has no arms or legs. Daruma dolls come with blank white eyes: you paint in one eye when you make a wish, and the second when it comes true.

Our Yukidaruma Hoodie puts all of it together: a two-ball snowman in a red knit hat, a one-eyed daruma waiting at its feet, and a slice of strawberry shortcake for good measure.

7. Kotatsu, mikan and nowhere to be

Most Japanese houses have no central heating. Instead there is the kotatsu: a low table with a heater underneath and a thick quilt over the top. You slide your legs under the quilt, and you do not come out again. On the table there is always a bowl of mikan — small, sweet, easy-peel mandarins — and by the end of the evening, a little pile of peel. Cats, as everyone in Japan knows, consider the space under a kotatsu their property.

That is the back of the Kutsushita Neko Hoodie. It is Christmas morning, and all five cats have climbed out of their stockings and fallen asleep in one warm heap on the kotatsu, next to a basket of mikan — except the grey one, still zipped into its stocking like a sleeping bag.

After Christmas: New Year is the real family holiday

The big family holiday comes a week later. Shōgatsu, the Japanese New Year, is when people travel home, send hand-written nengajō postcards, eat osechi food from lacquered boxes and visit a shrine for the first prayer of the year. In Japan, Christmas is the warm-up: lights, cake, chicken, a citrus bath and a long evening under the kotatsu.

If you like your winter a little quieter and a little rounder, there is one more character for you: the Fubuki Tora T-Shirt — a very round tiger sitting out a snowstorm with its eyes squeezed shut while its Santa hat blows away. (Tigers have a long history in Japanese art — read Dragon and Tiger: The Eternal Rivals of Japanese Art.)

Christmas in Japan: quick answers

Is Christmas a public holiday in Japan?

No. December 25th is a normal working day in Japan. The long holiday is New Year, usually from around December 29th to January 3rd.

Why do Japanese people eat KFC at Christmas?

A 1974 marketing campaign presented fried chicken as a Christmas meal, at a time when turkey was hard to find in Japan. It caught on, and today many families pre-order a Christmas bucket weeks in advance.

What is a Japanese Christmas cake?

A strawberry shortcake: soft sponge, whipped cream and fresh strawberries on top, eaten on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

What do Japanese people do on Christmas Eve?

Christmas Eve is mostly a romantic evening for couples — illuminations, dinner and gifts — while families with children enjoy cake, chicken and a visit from Santa.

Every Chrisraw design is original Japanese-inspired artwork, printed to order. Browse the full Christmas collection — and stay warm.