Christmas in Japan!!

It’s Christmas time in Japan!!  The day after Halloween, many places started selling Christmas decorations, Christmas foods (namely, cake), and other Christmas goods.  Some public buildings have even decorated the exterior of their structures with lights and Christmas trees for the holiday season (namely train stations, malls, and other buildings, too).  I am going to share a couple of photos that I took throughout Japan that reminded me of Christmas!

First, let me share the pictures of the first time I saw a Christmas tree in Japan.  After having a wonderful daytrip in Kyoto and taking many pictures of the autumn leaves there (check out my previous post from November to see pictures), I went to the station to go home.  And low and behold, there was a giant Christmas tree inside the station!  And they were playing GOOD Christmas music in the station…not the corny, generic Christmas music I keep hearing at the Japanese supermarkets that repeat on loop forever and ever!  The kind of gentle, nostalgia music that brings a tear to your eye (well, at least my eye in that moment.  And no, I wasn’t homesick!  It was just a lovely moment!)  Ahem, anyway, here are the pictures.

As a side note, I realize that I have already posted some of these pictures on previous blog posts and even on Facebook, but I thought I’d share them once more.

The next pictures are also in Kyoto.  The poinsettias here are beautiful.

Next, let me show you some pictures I took in Ogaki.  Ogaki is a small town that I go to every week for my Japanese lessons.  It’s one train stop away from my town.  There is a mall called Aquawalk that is close by the station.  Here are some pictures of the Aquawalk mall:

This is a building that is close to the Ogaki station that decided to get into the holiday spirit and decorate the exterior with blinking lights.

Shizuoka station had lights, too!

This is one of the only places that has lights up in Tarui:

Finally, I went to a restaurant a couple of days ago that had many beautiful decorations (as well as Christmas cakes!)  Here are the photos I took:

I would like to share a couple of photos of Tarui’s mountains.  I know it’s not Christmas related, but it’s kind of autumn/winter related.  It’s too stunning not to share. 

You see, Tarui is surrounded by mountains that are usually lush and green from the trees.  Within the last two or three weeks, all of the trees have started changing colours for the autumn season.  (If you can believe that we finally having autumn weather in Tarui in late November, early December!  I know!  It’s hard to believe, isn’t it my Canadian friends?!)

Anyway, the mountains are just stunning.  The mountains look like a giant quilt that has different colours of green, orange, yellow, and red patches throughout.  I get a great view from the windows in the school (it’s difficult not to be distracted at work and just simply stare out the window at the mountains during class!)  The students actually thought it was funny that I was taking pictures of the mountains, but they smiled when I explained to them that I thought the mountains were beautiful.  Unfortunately, my camera just doesn’t do justice to what I have had the privilege to see every day for the past two weeks.  But I still want to try and give you an idea of what it looks like.  So here are some photos of the “patchwork mountains” in Tarui:

Also, there is a mountain that is talked about a lot in town.  It’s Mount Ibuki, and this mountain is responsible for the cold wind that we receive almost daily.  The wind is so harsh that I once decided to get off my bicycle and walk it across a bridge because I was almost blown over the edge twice by the strong gusts, and the bridge had a safety railing, too!  Also, this mountain is the only one that has had any snow on it so far.  Here are a couple of pictures of Mount Ibuki:

There was an amazing photo opp with Mount Ibuki just last week.  I was biking to the northern school when I noticed that the sun was shining on the mountains.  The sun really shone a spotlight on all the different coloured trees on the mountains.  And in the middle of a couple of colourful mountains was Mount Ibuki, just covered with snow!  It was beautiful!  Unfortunately, when I finally got so school and remembered to take a quick picture, it was already second period and by that time the snow had almost completely melted off of Mount Ibuki.  I took some photos anyways:

You know what’s funny…I am just finishing up this blog, and I was about to say that it hasn’t snowed at all in Tarui and it’s mid-December.  Guess what it’s doing outside right at this moment?  It’s finally snowing in Tarui!  God must be looking over my shoulder as I’m typing this post up and He must have just cued the snow for Christmas!  It’s breathtaking!  And here’s the best part: it’s melting the second it touches the pavement!

(As I biked from school after typing up this post, I noticed that there was finally snow on the other mountains!  Here are a couple of shots I got today!)

I will continue with my blog posts in the New Year, but until then, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season with friends and family!!