Boing Boing came across this picture of Japanese take on Christmas Boing Boing: Hilarious Passion of the Christ poster in Japan. It's actually more interesting than simply one that doesn't follow the teaching of the Bible. Japanese, generally, have never, ever heard of Easter. It is not even on their radar unless they're one of the 1 million or so Christians in the population. But the poster does show the very Japanese view of Christmas. See how all the people in the left hand picture are men, slaving away to bring home the Christmas fare? See how the man behind Christ-san is carrying the Christmas Cake box? Christmas cake in Japan is nothing like what we get in the UK (I don't know about the US). Christmas cake at home is rich fruit cake that, by popular consent, is best kept for 1-2 years to mature before eating. Christmas cake in Japan is the exact opposite -- a soft, MSG ladden sponge, plastered with artifial cream and strawberries, and which will go off within 1-2 days at most so must be eaten immediately. The Japanese Christmas cake is such a consumption fad that salesmen travel the country trying to sell them in bulk. And the cake's short life span means that women over about 29 who aren't married are commonly referred to as 'Christmas Cakes' because they're past their sell-by dates.
Why should Japan 'understand' or even know about what the Bible says? No reason at all.
20/07/2005
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