It's Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

My advent calendars tell me it's two days til Christmas - which is my favourite day of the year - and  Tokyo (along with most of Japan) goes absolutely HAM for Christmas! So I thought I'd do more of a photo heavy blog this time, showcasing some of the Christmas displays I've come across during my time here this festive season!


Last night we had our Secret Santa Party in the hall, bringing together Poland, Russia, France, The Netherlands, America, Hungary, Colombia, and New Zealand, with mix of Christmas foods and drinks - including some French wine, Baileys coffee, and a Colombian liquorice spirit. Gifts were exchanged, Christmas music played, and good times had - all before heading out to Shimokitazawa down the road for karaoke until sunrise!




















Tokyo central has a number of department stores who have collaborated in putting together a number of Christmas displays, each more wonderful than the last!

































 Odaiba has the tallest decorated Christmas tree in Tokyo, with the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower in the background

To highlight the gharish commercialisation of Christmas in Japan, Pingu has done a wee collab with Christmas this year in Odaiba...


Midtown Park in Roppongi has a huge display of Christmas lights this year, delivering over 500,000 individual lights in a display that echoes the planets - putting on a show that incorporates sound and light into a very impressive spectacle! The number of lights also gave me an opportunity to try out some creative approaches to photography, involving light painting, long exposures, and vanishing point zooms, an opportunity I have not had the pleasure of trying out before, at least on this scale!


Tuesday - Mars, The Atmospheric Phenomena






Christmas shoes!

Wednesday - Mercury, A World of Ice













Thursday - Jupiter, The Typhoons and Aurora

















Friday - Venus the Raging Winds





All in all, while Christmas itself isn't really a day in and of itself here (uni classes on Christmas!), the lead up to Christmas is very much alive and well here. Illuminations, Christmas music, decorations and trees for all to see are everywhere. For a Christmas fiend for me, the lead up is amazing, I absolutely love it - and it's been starting since November 1! Now I just need to find some snow...

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas wherever you are in the world, and have an incredibly Happy New Year! New Years is quite a big thing in Japan, so I can expect to have a big party of that as we count in 2018!

メリークリスマス！

Troy/Toroi


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