This month, two common questions were heard among many foreign residents here: "What are you doing for Christmas?" and "Are you going home or staying here?"
The questions are asked and answered in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Tagalog, to name but a few languages, and more often than not, the word "Christmas" is used, as opposed to "holiday" or "winter vacation." Although the underlying perception of "not having to work" is integral to these words or phrases, the specific use of the word "Christmas" demonstrates, to some extent, the significant place that a historically religious holiday holds for some foreign communities here in Japan.
While in Western societies observers have noted that Christmas has become more about families than faith, it could be argued, perhaps for the very reason of lack of family or extended family support, that some immigrants or foreign residents in Japan find Christmas to be the time in which they return to a childhood faith, albeit temporarily, or discover a new or renewed conviction in religion.