Christmas is a popular holiday in Japan, even though less than 1% of the population identifies as Christian. People here love holidays, lights, giving (and receiving) gifts, and special food, so Christmas is pretty much a lock on every level.
Lots of the major buildings have Christmas trees (many of which are enormous, natural trees rather than artificial ones), but “at-home” trees–to the extent they exist–are usually very small (think table-top size) and artificial.
While down in Meguro having my hair cut and having lunch with my friend Kaitlyn last month, I saw some living Christmas trees for sale at a local flower shop. Since Kaitlyn is living with me for a year, and we wanted to make Christmas extra-special, we went in and asked about the trees.
The shop was willing to deliver! (A good thing, because we’d never have managed to get a three-foot potted tree home on the metro.)
The little tree arrived the following Sunday; it’s living out front until a few days before Christmas, but that won’t stop us from getting it into the holiday spirit…stay tuned for more!