Christmas in Japan is not the kind of family-centered, traditional, religious celebration that it is in many parts of the world. Heck, I even have to go to work on Christmas Day.
No, the Japanese Christmas is mostly about packed stores, eating a Christmas supper of KFC chicken and Christmas cake ordered from the local supermarket.
(Woe is he who forgot to order a KFC Christmas chicken in advance because there is no way he can get chicken from the store on Christmas day.)
Now, what got me into thinking about this post is a news clip that I happened a few days ago. From Yomiuri:
Eighty students from a nursing school under the direction of a Santa Claus-attired robot sang Christmas songs to the patients at Kyoto Second Red Cross Hospital on December 19.
The robot was MKR-003, developed by Muratec for use in delivering medicines and medical instruments inside hospitals. It is being testing at the same hospital once a month since the spring of 2008.
At the hospital’s lobby and corridors, the robot swung a baton in a humorous way by moving its arms up and down while the nursing students held candles while singing Christmas songs like Silent Night and Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer. “He is cute and heart-warming,” remarked the 37 female patients inside the hospital who were delighted with the performance.
Anecdotal evidence tells me that school children in Japan already know more about Asimo than Santa Claus, and given Japan’s penchant for the hi-tech and the recent development in commercial robots that are meant to replace chores traditionally done by humans, it is not implausible that Santa Claus in Japan will soon be replaced by these cuter and more familiar mechanical humanoids.
Or maybe he didn’t really arrive in the first place.
Still, Merry Christmas to everyone! From Japan.
{This post is an entry to the Christmas Japan Blog Matsuri hosted at Japansoc Blog.}
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