I thought Christmas 2009 was going to be different. I went out of my way to decorate the house and feel Christmasy, unlike in 2008 when the only decoration was a tiny poinsettia that a student gave me a few days before the big day. Back then I had decided that all the fuss of decorating and cooking holiday treats wasn't worth it and wanted to see what a no-effort Christmas was like. Not surprisingly Xmas '08 made me a little sad, and I realized two things: one, that you do have to put in some effort to get that special Christmas feeling. And two, that even as a fully grown-up person, without kids, and an atheist to boot, I actually still wanted that special Christmas feeling.
So this time around I put up decorations and we even fashioned a kind of tree out of some branches (two trees actually: one on our balcony made of sticks from the park, and one inside made of a fancier branch from the florist's). I played Christmas music 'till my ears hurt, got my Christmas cards done early, and made Hideaki put up Christmas lights in our bedroom window and on our balcony.
And still Christmas never really came.
The first bad sign was after I'd done my Christmas cards, I was literally on my way out the door to mail them when I did a quick email check on my phone and got an email from my mother telling my Uncle Bill had died. Bill was to turn 100 on January 13th, and although I already had a birthday card picked out I thought I'd send him a Christmas card too, writing giant letters (an empty gesture as he was too blind to read) and hoping he'd remember who I was.
Uncle Bill had an interesting life, especially during the war. He flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force and spent time in Finland, involved in a mission so top secret that he still wouldn't discuss the details six decades later. After the war he married and lived in the Parkdale area of Toronto, where he'd grown up.
He was actually my great uncle by marriage, the husband of my father's grandmother. We weren't particularly close and I'd only met him a handful of times, but he'd kind of become part of our family in recent years. We'd been out of contact with him and his wife for decades, only getting back into touch several years ago. Aunt Mabel died ages ago, they never had kids, and our family was his closest kin, so when they regained contact my dad took responsibility for him, visiting him often at his home in Toronto and eventually moving him to a home nearby in Brampton. He was a bit senile but fairly lively for his age, with a newly developed forbidden love for chocolate and sweets (he wasn't allowed to eat them for health reasons, but dad figured at his age he deserved the pleasure and would smuggle in occasional treats for him), making jokes about how he likes to keep after-dinner mints around "for the ladies" and even once goosing a female attendant. On my last visit he had done what he always does to younger visitors: held up both fists and asked me, of my dad, "Is he giving you any trouble?". Apparently when my brother or other males visited the fists would be twirled around in an old-fashioned boxer's move, a treat I never got to see.
So although we weren't close I was really sad to hear about his passing. The timing was also sad, since he just missed his 100th birthday, but as my mom pointed out he already believed he was 102 or 103, so in his own mind he'd already passed that milestone.
I met Hideaki there after he had a job interview in the area, and we were both underwhelmed. We were too early for the concerts, no free wine was to be had, the stuff for sale in the booths was way overpriced, the tarte flambes were sold out, and the very tempting charcuterie cart above was closed without explanation (it re-opened just as we were leaving, when we were already full).
So I took a picture of the Christmas tree, imported (along with its decorations) from Alsace. As I did so passersby looked around in confusion, wondering what I could possibly be taking a picture of, as the tree was extremely tame by Japanese standards- it didn't even light up! Then we bought some overpriced grub at the one food stall that was open, eating it while we froze at the outdoor tables provided (no heaters or blankets offered).
Clockwise from top left: a nice bread with bacon and onion; some kind of potato dish with cheese, mulled apple juice, wine (variety unknown); choucroute; and quiche. The choucroute was delicious and I may have to rethink my hatred of sauerkraut (or maybe the Alsatians are just the only ones who do it right). The other stuff was good but not very hot when served and quite cold by the time we ate it.
Now that I think about it, I don't think it was the food or booths or other stuff that failed to impress me, it was the crowd: the very few people there looked miserable, which is completely normal for Tokyo but just doesn't work for a Christmas market.
December 23rd is the Emperor's birthday and thus a national holiday, so when Christmas (which of course is not a holiday here) falls on a weekday lots of folks choose the Emp's birthday to celebrate. We did so by meeting Hideaki's sister Atsuko and her family at the Tokyo Hilton for brunch. We go there every once in a while for special occasions because they put on a nice spread, but hadn't been a few years. In the time that we'd been away the place had renovated, raised both the level of their food and their prices, and been declared the best hotel buffet in Japan (a title way better than it sounds, as tonnes of hotels here do buffets and most are very good). I'd read that the buffet now included raw oysters and even had Hide call and ask, and he was told something odd: that they do have oysters but they're not actually raw, having been treated to render them safe. We'd never heard of this so were curious to see what they meant.
Sure enough, there was a mound of oysters on the halfshell over ice, and they looked like normal raw oysters. I picked a few up on my first trip to the buffet, failing to notice the sauces, and ate them plain. That's how I ate the Akkeshi oysters in Hokkaido and at that time I couldn't imagine adding any kind of flavour to an oyster. But it turns out that not all oysters are equal to Akkeshis, because these had almost zero flavour! Was it the variety of oyster or the mysterious treatment they'd undergone that did it? No idea. They had the same texture as regular raw oysters, a bit of a briny odour, but close to nothing on the palate. I later went back for some sauce, and once they were dressed up they suddenly tasted like oysters again. I think I must have had nearly twenty, which I later regretted- oysters go down so easily but are deceptively filling.
The rest of the food was good, and although the others were most impressed with the desserts, I thought the salad bar and appetizer bar was the best and also offered the biggest bang for the buck. I was already stuffed by the time I got to the hot food, above, and couldn't finish my plate.
Afterward we checked out some of Shinjuku's Christmas decorations, which Marya especially was impressed by. Believe it or not, this was the first proper light display I'd seen this Christmas- I really don't get out like I used to. We then started an Ultraman stamp rally (a stamp rally being a unique Japanese custom of bringing a special flyer around town to various locations to get a stamp from each one, usually with a reward when you've got all the stamps), Marya being an Ultraman fan, but had to cancel halfway through when I suddenly came down with a cold. Just like that- I was feeling fine one minute and the next felt like hell. So straight to home and to bed it was.
Christmas Eve I downed enough cold meds to get through the night and met my friend Emi for dinner. We usually go to Nasu to celebrate but I couldn't afford it this year, so dinner it was. We were a bit curious to see what it would be like to have a nice dinner together on this night, since Christmas Eve is considered THE date night in Japan. Women without dates on Xmas Eve are supposed to stay home in shame, and the lucky ones who do snag a date can expect an expensive present, a fancy dinner, and a few hours at a love hotel (if the guy has was smart enough to book a room months in advance, that is- Christmas Eve is the busiest night of the year for love hotels).
Like most stereotypes, this turns out to be not quite true: nobody looked as us funny and we saw lots of other women who were obviously not on dates, in groups, pairs, and even alone. The male-female couples in our restaurant, however, stayed true to the stereotype and each girl was handed a present by her man (a cashmere scarf for one and jewelry for the others, the lucky bitches).
Anyway, we ate at Cafe Table, an interior goods shop in Omotesando (selling pop-art type stuff they call "Sweet French Style") with a French restaurant decorated with their wares. It was a very cute looking place and the food was way better than my initial expectations were, although a bit gimmicky. The Christmas wreath salad had lovely bits of pate and scallop mousse, and the "cappuccino style" soup below was made with soy milk and mushrooms, with a very rich flavour and no evidence of icky soy milk.
Next was seafood (a large shrimp, squid and raw scallops) atop pesto risotto with a red pepper sauce, just lovely.
The roast beef with "Maria Maricia" sauce was less impressive, as the sauce turned out to be chocolate-based. Not like a complex and very slightly chocolaty mole sauce, but really really chocolaty.
The dessert was a mini white yule log and ice cream with balsamico reduction. There was way too much of the sauce and the ice cream was rendered far too sour and savoury- I found myself wondering if the chef had mixed up the sauces for the meat and dessert courses.
Still, it was a very nice meal, and they gave us each a free coffee mug as we left. It's still under my Christmas tree (I mean branch), waiting for our real Christmas to come).
After dinner we checked out the Christmas lights along Omotesando. These lights were once a famous sight in Tokyo, but this is the first time they've been up in over a decade: local merchants disliked the crowds that the lights brought (at the time such displays were rare here) and worried about damage to the trees, so put an end to the displays. In the years since, the shopkeepers have looked on in envy as other neighborhoods in Tokyo started putting up lights, with displays becoming more and more elaborate and the crowds getting bigger and bigger, and I guess they realized that massive crowds are better than none at all, and the lights are back up.
The display was pretty, but it was hard to get a good view as the pedestrian bridge was closed, the street was lined with parked cars whose occupants were taking pictures, and the curbs were strewn with trash bags (must've been garbage day on Christmas).
Meanwhile, back at home, Christmas didn't develop much past the decorations. With Hideaki's job situation as it was, we weren't doing presents for each other, and of the three parcels my mother had sent only one had shown up. There were no traditional Christmas Eve presents, and the next morning we opened stockings (his was full of lame stuff from the local convenience store that I'd hastily bought on my way home the night before, mine with treats from all over that Hideaki had actually been collecting for some time- he's getting really good at Christmas!) had then one present each from my parents (the only two that made it from home). No mimosas in the morning or champagne at dinner, no turkey or even chicken- knowing that I had to recover from my cold before my upcoming ski camp job, I took it easy and let Hideaki do dinner. He did tiny but beautiful wagyu steaks, and although I could barely taste them I could definitely appreciate the melt in the mouth texture (you'd have to be near death not to appreciate that).
So, despite a lot of good eating, it was kind of a sad non-Christmas after all. It's highly embarrassing to realize that at 36 years of age I still rely on my mother to make Christmas happen, and also rather disappointing to know that I really do need all the presents, traditional cooking and other bells and whistles. How The Grinch Stole Christmas was wrong. It didn't come without packages, boxes and bags!
Wait, I'm exaggerating. I had some nice times with friends and family, the present from my mom was lovely, and we did get one very special present on Christmas: a phone call for Hide, from the company he interviewed for the previous week. He got the job!
He starts this Tuesday, and hopefully the boxes from home will arrive around the same time he gets his first paycheck, and we'll have a proper Christmas after all. A month or so late, but I'll chalk that up to the time difference.
Hope you had a merry Christmas, if Christmas is your thing! And if you're interested, a few more holiday pictures can be seen here.
sorry to hear your Christmas wasn't but I'm happy that Hideaki got the job :) happy 2010!
Posted by: kat | 2010.01.08 at 03:38 PM
Am sad to hear about your Christmas. Anyways, the decorations look amazing! Wish you a very happy and a prosperous new year! Blessings to you and your family for the new year.
Posted by: chinesischer grüner Tee | 2010.01.08 at 09:13 PM
I'm sorry your Christmas wasn't very Christmas-y, but at least you can chalk it up to being in a non-Christian country. If you were here in Indiana with me, you'd have spent it with an acting-father-in-law passed out from 9 Coors Lights he downed trying to forget about his pending divorce, bland tacos for dinner, babysitting a horde of children around the tree who shoot Nerf guns at you while their parents socialize. That's a pretty accurate description of mine.
Posted by: Tamara | 2010.01.09 at 03:46 AM
A job on Christmas day? That is AMAZING! Next year will be better!
Posted by: june2 | 2010.01.09 at 03:47 AM
Amazing!
You Japanese have among the best food in the world. Great restaurants and a nation that knows how to enjoy great food, great life. Kudos for that!
Just a question: I love your pictures. With what Digital SLR + lens did you take them?
Posted by: S Lloyd | 2010.01.09 at 09:00 AM
That's the best present of all ^^, congrats to Hideaki. Hoping those packages come soon x(^u^)x
Posted by: AS | 2010.01.09 at 09:13 AM
Wonderful news about the job! Thanks for sharing and congratulations for the new year!
Posted by: YSC | 2010.01.10 at 07:21 AM
I just wanted to say that your blog is probably the best japanese blog I have ever read. I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago and took time to read all of the posts going back. It gives tremendous insight into the everyday life yet somehow it touches the soul as well. What you write - it definitely touches me in many ways - and your writing is important - as it opens doors into your life in Japan. It is fabulous, honest, interesting and addictive in a good way. Thank you for doing this - it is such a great read. I have been to Japan twice and bringing my parents in the spring to see it (how can you not be in love with it) - but certainly my tourist experiences are lacking what you are allowing me to learn and "feel" through you and Hideaki. Thank you.
Posted by: Ilia | 2010.01.10 at 10:55 AM
It is hard to recapture the MAGIC in the Christmases of our childhood! Here's hoping your next Christmas does just that. Congrats on your husbands new job. To me your Christmas looked pretty good (except for getting sick) as it has been a very hard year for so many. I really love your blog, both the writing and the photos but especially the photos. I'd love to see and experience Japan in person but your blog is probably the only way I will see it. Thankyou.
Posted by: Chrisq | 2010.01.10 at 11:12 PM
I very much enjoy your blog. I keep up with it regularly and I am slowly working through the archives. Having just moved to Japan from Seattle a few months ago, due to my wife's job, your blog has been a great source of information and inspiration for me. Thanks! Sorry to hear about your less than satisfying Christmas this year but congratulations to your husband on the new job. As for Christmas in our house this year, my son was just happy that Santa could find him here in Japan (thank you Amazon.com) and that he was able to get inside to leave presents even without a fireplace.
Posted by: Curtis Short | 2010.01.11 at 01:39 AM
I have read your blog for a few years now and want you to know that you have brought me great joy. I have never been to Japan, but feel as tho I have traveled through your eyes. Holidays are often a let down for many of us due to our expectations from happy times. As a mom of 6 who have grown up and last one is leaving to school this year, I am having some of the same feelings as you about the holiday! You are not alone! thanks for the many days of gifts you have given me with your observations and pictures. Christmas never have to stay the same as when we were young or when our families were young. redefining keeps life fresh!
Posted by: Linda Wankel | 2010.01.11 at 06:24 AM
I'm sorry about your disappointing Christmas. One can never really regain the excitement of it from childhood, and it would be especially hard away from family. Good news about your Husband's job though!
Just wanted to let you know that I've been reading for awhile and that I very much enjoy your blog. :)
Posted by: Natalie | 2010.01.11 at 01:38 PM
I agree with Linda Wankel -- your blog, your storytelling, your photos, your cooking, you rock. Bravo and Merry Christmas! To your continued success, and of course, 2010 is going to be incredible.
Posted by: Nancy | 2010.01.11 at 03:00 PM
Sorry on Christmas being a bummer, but hooray for Hideaki's new job! It seems like a toss up - crappy christmas, but good news in some way with the job.
Either way, I hope everything else is going smoothly for ya now!
Posted by: Albany Jane | 2010.01.12 at 06:54 AM
I hope that 2010 will be full of good cheer and new adventures for you and your husband! I must thank you, too, for inspiring me to cook more, and in 2010, I am resolved to prepare dinner and bento as often as I can manage. I'm getting more adventurous with cooking, and hope to post some photos of meals I make once I get better at presentation and photography :-)
Posted by: Erizabesu | 2010.01.12 at 09:59 PM
HI, I've been following your blog for ages now and have read this particular one partially holding my breath from the bit you mention the interview ... I am so glad he got the job, congratulations! And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Better late than never :)
Posted by: Sanja | 2010.01.13 at 03:12 AM
My condolences about your Uncle Bill--he sounds like he was a lot of fun.
Christmas was pretty much nonexistent here so I can sympathize with your malaise. Hoping this year will be different.
But congrats to Hideaki on the job! What an awesome way to start the new year...
Posted by: Aspasia | 2010.01.13 at 07:59 AM
I continue to love your blog, at holiday time and all the year round. Thank so much for allowing me to stay connected to Japan through your vivid words and images. And many congratulations to Hideakii for landing the job! I know that must be an enormous relief... Happy New Year to you both!
Posted by: Mari L'Esperance | 2010.01.14 at 03:53 PM
Thanks all for the good wishes!
Tamara, your Christmas just might have been crappier than mine!
S Lloyd, find camera info in the "About" section.
Ilia, thanks a lot!
Chrisq, you're right, it really wasn't bad at all compared to lots of people. I'm just a bit of a whinger.
Curtis, I'm glad you find my blog useful!
Thanks for the support, Linda!
Erizabesu, good luck in 2010 and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Thanks a lot Aspasia!
Posted by: Amy | 2010.01.27 at 08:25 AM