Christmas in Japan can be mind-blowing in some ways. Look at the Christmas card selections, for example. Years ago, one of my students, who was teaching English over there, sent me a card that had UFOs circling above a Victorian angel and had as its caption (in English): "God save the Christmas. Oh my God."

Then there are TV variety shows where people sing Western Christmas carols translated into...classical Japanese by missionaries in the 19th century.

You can also go into the department stores and see the packages for o-seibo, the year-end season in which Japanese people give gifts to people to whom they owe an obligation in the Japanese scheme of things. One year I saw a gift pack of six cans of Del Monte peaches.

On Christmas Eve day, bakeries will have boxes of cakes stacked up outside, either for people to pick up their pre-orders or for last-minute shoppers.

The 1% of the population that is Christian will be in church, but for families, the big holiday is New Year. That's the holiday that has a collection of folk customs, religious observances, and traditional foods, and the day on which children receive presents of money.

If you step outside your hotel on Christmas morning, you will step out into a normal, everyday scene.