The 12 Days of Christmas - Tokyo edition
I briefly considered doing my own rendition of the famous Christmas carol for this post but luckily for all our sakes I decided against it.
The run-up to Christmas
Tokyo got festive on 1 November as soon as the Halloween decorations came down. So the build-up started way too early and was a long, cruel reminder that we wouldn’t be home for Christmas. (Yes, I am living my dream life but I also want your tears.)
It was still pretty autumnal in Tokyo and it got me thinking that the festive period is the only good thing about winter in the UK. Imagine if Christmas and New Year were during another season in the UK - how would we get through the dreary, miserable winter without tinsel, the various Christmas TV adverts trying to pull at our heart strings, or gossiping about who got hideously drunk at the work Christmas do. Thank goodness that the UK is in the northern hemisphere.
I need very little encouragement to dress up and host a party so this year we hosted two Christmas parties for our friends in Tokyo. We had hosted Christmas parties each year for our London friends so we were glad to continue the tradition here. There were 24 of us at the two parties and we represented 14 different countries (yes, I chose to count this because I was curious!). In the absence of the usual party food that we could bung in the oven for parties back in the UK, without realising it we served a hotch potch of international snacks as diverse as our guest list including samosas, spring rolls, stollen, panetonne, mince pies, hummus and guacamole. Oh and because there was only one other Brit at the party, we were constantly explaining that mince pies do not contain meat. I don’t think knowing that it was a meat-free sweet treat encouraged many guests to try one. I don’t blame them as I have to confess that I am not really a fan of mince pies - I am in it for the pastry and my favourite way of eating one is in a bowl of warm custard so the mince gets diluted. It really is just an excuse to have custard. And I’d rather have a pastry filled with meat. OK, enough about mince pies.
I have always been a fan of fancy dress, but shockingly this was the first year that I dressed up as Father Christmas for one of our parties.
Christmas Day at Tokyo Disneyland!
We mulled about what to do on Christmas Day and Wil had the genius idea of going to Disneyland. If that sounded sarcastic it wasn’t meant to. We had intended to go at least once whilst we were in Tokyo, and still hadn’t made it there so spending Christmas Day at Disneyland seemed ideal because we were keen to do something left field as there was no way we would be able to recreate the feeling of Christmas at home.
Being in Japan inadvertently meant that for the first time Wil snd I were the decision makers on how to spend Christmas and Eid. Up until now, we’ve just followed what had been decided by our parents, grandparents and aunt and uncles. Of course as we got older we’d be included in discussions but the general shape of the celebrations was determined by the older generations. But over the past year or two I’ve started having more conversations with friends, about how to spend special occasions as family dynamics change as our generation has got older, coupled up, moved into our own houses and started having children. I love how our families currently celebrate Christmas and Eids but I am curious to see how they will change as our families change. But for now, we made the decision as responsible adults to step away from reality and visit DISNEYLAND.
Before talking about Disneyland, however, I want to put on the record that usually I would not even humour the idea of leaving the house on Christmas Day. So a trip to Disneyland was a seismic shift on par with me declaring that I would never eat eggs again. Actually, for full disclosure let me me put it out there that I also have zero interest in leaving the house on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day - if I am in a house full of family, with an abundance of food, hours of watchable TV, in the warmth, then why on Earth would I want to “stretch my legs” and get some “fresh air” in the freezing cold?! I hate stretching my legs on a normal day so why would I tarnish Christmas week by stretching my legs?!?!
Anyway, time to talk about Disneyland! IT WAS MAGICAL. I SAW ALL THE PRINCESSES AND I LOVED THEM. And although I am not a big Disney fan, I was thrilled that it still felt magical! And thank goodness for nostalgia because it probably had a part to play in everything feeling so fantastical.
Disneyland had been decked out in Christmas decorations and we smugly walked around with our Father Christmas hats, which also made it easier to spot each other in the sea of Mickey Mouse ears that everyone was donning. The park was full of Japanese families but we did spot a few other people who had decided to head to Disneyland specifically to celebrate Christmas.
Although some people plan days at Disneyland with military precision to maximise their time and the number of rides they go on, we weren’t fussed about the rides and we just wanted to have a fun, relaxed day. The highlights of the day for me were the three parades (because I enjoy low adrenaline activities that involve being stationary):
a Christmas themed parade in the day;
a regular parade in the day, and
a bombastic sparkling lights extravaganza of a parade at night.
Here are some thoughts that crossed my mind during the various parades:
I am a feminist but…I’d totally sign up to be Belle for a day just so the Wardrobe would dress me.
Why did Walt Disney settle on a mouse out of all the animals as his leading character? Would Roger or Raymond Rat have been as popular?
Do people in other Disneyland locations sit down to watch the parade or is that just in Japan? Because if they don’t then they really should because it is so much better than standing around for hours.
Here’s a photo of Belle and the Beast just for the hell of it.
Christmas Day at Disneyland sounds idyllic but, to prove that we don’t live in a dream fantasy land, the iconic castle was undergoing renovations so that was disappointing!
A big part of Christmas Day is usually the meal. Our lunch consisted of fries, little savoury pastries and a gingery lemonade. But the pastries were shaped like Mickey Mouse so I guess that makes up for the fact that I wasn’t in a roast vegetable and gravy induced coma.
For dinner we had ramen at Tokyo Station! Imagine having Christmas dinner at Euston station - sounds pretty grim but it was actually out of choice because there is a restaurant we love that serves vegan ramen.
Our Christmas Day ended with various FaceTime calls to family and opening our stockings full of presents from Wil’s mum alongside presents from friends. A big thank you to everyone who brought or sent parcels full of Christmas treats - a particular highlight was a pack of Christmas edition Colin the Caterpillars! Gorging on the Colins and all the other treats was the perfect end to a very unusual Christmas Day!
Setting the scene as I wrote this blog:
Location: On the way to dentist and on trains around Tokyo.
Weather: Grey!
Soundtrack: A banal coffee shop playlist on Spotify.
Bonus fact: Wil and I both last went to Disneyland when we were about 10 years old.
