Thanksgiving

The Thursday of Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is, I was surprised to find out, also a holiday here in Japan. It doesn't show up on any calendar I've seen, but I understand that is the way with holidays here. The official name of the holiday, according to my colleagues, is "Giving Thanks for Labor" Day. Some companies (mine included) give their workers Friday off as well. So it ends up much like Thanksgiving in the States.

Another similarity is that Christmas shopping is now officially in full swing. Christmas displays are in shop windows, and Christmas songs are playing (in English) in the restaurants. "Santa-san" is everywhere. Very few Japanese are Christians, but they love shopping and giving gifts, so this is a popular holiday in Tokyo.

The three of us spent Thanksgiving at the home of Joel and Michelle Johnson from the LDS Tokyo 1st Ward (English), the church congregation we attend. There were a number of ex-pats there. We had turkey, stuffing, pie--all the things you would get at a Thanksgiving dinner in the States. Everything was delicious, and best of all, we got to know some really nice folks. It was the first chance we had to really converse with others in English since we got here.

Today we went to explore the Shibuya shopping district. It was very crowded, with malls and stores in abundance. Cindy says this is the Tokyo she had been expecting before we got here.

Sticker shock, too, was in abundance. It seems that we leave for a shopping trip knowing everything is going to be expensive, but when we see the prices, we are somehow still shocked.