Christmas at Midtown

Christmas in Japan is like Christmas in many other countries, more about by consumerism than any tradition or even religion. Families usually spend Christmas together (after work of course) with a cake and some grilled chicken, while young adults or those unattached prefer to spend Christmas eve with their sweethearts. To lure this attraction seeking young crowd many shopping centers put on light displays and events, the most popular of which are so crowded that people have to cue up to get in. There was supposed to be a huge light display at Tokyo station but when the managers understood the huge numbers of people who were likely to show up the event was actually cancelled! I happened to walk through Tokyo Midtown in the Roppongi district on Christmas eve and saw these christmas decorations. While the decorations inside the big commercial center was focused on abstract shapes there were some cute hand decorated snowmen!

Tokyo Christmas Illuminations

It’s the day before Christmas eve and I thought this would be a good time to share some photos of Tokyo Christams illuminations I have taken over the last month. These are all from Roppongi, showing the all year non-stop christmassy Tokyo Tower, as well as the Christmas tree in front of Tokyo Mid Town and even, although having nothing to do with our modern Christmas, a rather stylish Roppongi church roof top ornament. Here’s hoping that all of us get peace, some love and a lot of rest this Christmas!

Hermes Christmas Decorations

This is beginning to get regular, me writing about the French fashion brand Hermes’ Christmas decorations! Here’s the latest one I saw last night in Ginza, at the main Hermes store. This is actually tucked away between the two main Hermes buildings in what is almost an ally that very few people use. I was waiting at the store and heard this almost eerie glockenspiel sound coming from the back and had to go out to check it out, pretty amazingly over the top when you consider the location! I wonder how many dozens of people will see this before Christmas is over? Still, thank you Hermes for always putting interesting stuff up for us!

Muji Christmas

Passing the Muji store in Tokyo Midtown last weekend I saw this really neat display of little wooden block cities at their Christmas Market. Each set represents a city, place, group of places or inventions and is all made out wood. Being a building freak it was really fun to see these, I especially liked the Wonders of the World and the Kyoto set with a good mix of modern and ancient buildings.

Muji having one of the most advanced retail concepts in the world right now also has a lot of other really neat stuff on their Christmas Market special web site, even if it’s in Japanese it might be fun to check out, and if you are working in retail it’s a must see. And if you ever pass Tokyo Midtown be sure to check their store out, it’s probably one of the most beautiful low priced brand stores in the world.