Standing in the doorway of the Mitsukoshi on a December night

Less than 2% of Japanese are Christians but this is one of the most Christmas-crazy places I've ever lived in. There are Christmas lights everywhere. Restaurants have Christmas specials, stores have Christmas sales, and corporations invest heavily in Christmas-themed advertising. Of course a big part of this hoopla is commercial in nature - just like it is in Europe and North America.

But it still raises my spirits when I see the lights and hear the same Christmas music I grew up with. A couple of nights ago I went to hear an orchestra play Christmas music at a concert hall at the Ginza. Afterward I walked down a street lined with shops twinkling with lights and stood and admired the large Christmas tree outside Mikimoto Pearls near the Ginza crossing. Before I got back on the Ginza line to head home I stood at the main entrance to the Mitsukoshi Department Store watching the fashionable Tokyoites go in and out and across the Sukiyabashi Crossing - one of the most famous intersections in the world. Warm air heavy with perfume was flowing out of Mitsukoshi and across my face. Across the street the Neo-Renaissance Wako Department Store was bathed in a purple glow from its light display. Wako's curved granite façade and clock tower has stood at this corner since 1932. On the opposite corner the the San-ai Building with its huge neon sign towers over the intersection. It's been the image of Ginza on postcards and travel books for decades now. On this cold December evening its neon illuminates the entire crossing and the thousands of shoppers busily going somewhere. I seem to be the only person standing still.