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And boy do they know how to decorate a Christmas tree.
Wait…I wonder how Fox & Friends would react to seeing this thing called a “Christmas tree”?
The Japanese really know how to celebrate Christmas
December 10, 2011 at 8:35 am 
PZ Myers 
Posted in Weirdness 
…and this is a 
Jumpin’ Jeezus on a stick. All it needs is a baby Jebus held in front of the dragon’s mouth to make it perfect. Well, barbecued baby is tastier than boiled baby.
Fox & Friends makes the Holiday Baby cry.
Dick the Damned #1
That’s not a dragon, it’s Godzilla.
Well it beats the crucified Santa they put up at Easter .. (Wink.)
That’s not Godzilla, it’s Gojira.
If you want to be pedantic, it’s ゴジラ.
Looks like the tree at the Church of God-Zillah (Washington)
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20000610&slug=4025861
—-which congregation has a similar theme on parade floats. Good on them.
Joe
かわいい (kawaii)
or
こわい (kowai)
I confuse those two.
違う様＠8
Well the Santa hat definately puts it in the かわいい camp, although it strikes me as more 不気味 (Bukimi).
Now we just need a Christmas tree Mothra and Ebira for the full monster movie nativity set…
I’d totally get a christmas tree if I could have one like that.
My youngest son thinks that is the most awesome christmas tree ever (he just finished watching nearly all of the Godzilla movies a couple of months ago).
How do I order one?
Jesus vs. Godzilla.
Will Godzilla take Jesus into his heart, or his belly? And what does a Jesus fart smell like (oops, gave away the ending)?
Glen Davidson
Japanese Christmas logic:
1. In the US, wackaloons screech about keeping the Christ in Christmas.
2. We have symbolized Christmas with a green Godzilla, complete with Santa hat and lots of little lights. You can’t get more Christmasy than that.
3. Our Godzilla has eaten your Christ. (Perhaps at mass?)
4. Ergo and therefore, Christ is in this particular Christmas. Honorable wackaloons should be pleased with Nipponese acquiescence to their nonsense.
[Yes, yes, I know, I'm mining the same vein other replies have mined, but as Mehitabel said to Archie, wothehell.]
And Gamera, the children’s friend, delivers gifts around the would. Unfortunately, Gamera knocks over the homes and sets them on fire, making it a net lose for all of the recipients of the gifts.
It’s not Godzilla (or Gojira) due to international copyright restrictions.
But you should still run like it is Godzilla.
Though it isn’t.
Someone’s gotta do it.
History shows us again and again how nature points out the folly of man.
As an economist, I am convinced the economic problems the Japanese have been having for the past 20 years are mainly due to having to rebuilt Tokyo, Osaka, etc. every few years after visits from Godzilla.
Remember, folks, you read it here first!
HOLY SHIT! THIS IS THE GREATEST XMAS TREE EVER!!!!
Please, please tell me the tree is surrounded by scale model cityscape.
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound he rips that dumb christian cross down . . .
HA!
The American equivalent should be a similarly-capped topiary King Kong.
Happy Monkey, everyone!
Haha, this was perfect timing. Yesterday I had a discussion with two theists on facebook about the post they had put up saying It’s CHRISTMAS!!!!!!Not holidays yadda yadda, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!!@!. After being told by an english immigrant that immigrants should ‘conform’ to our customs, the catholic jumped in and decried not having been able to say Merry Christmas when she worked at a national retail store and that she has not been able to celebrate christmas the way she has wanted to for the last 7 years. After I questioned her on this I got deleted from her friends, so that was that. This pic tho is definitely going on FB. Christmas tree indeed :)
The funny part about this convo was that the catholic was on the phone with my step mom at the time, who then called my dad who then called me to ask why I was being a shit disturber. I had to remind him that I am the daughter of the man who stood in a catholics home, spread out his hands on Easter sunday and declared “What a crummy way to spend Easter!”
Whatever he’s called, he’s certainly ready to party. All spruced up and wearing a fir coat.
Serendipity–I was showing the Gojira to my wife’s mother (we’re at her house for the annual mega-cookie-bake). As I was showing it to her, my iPod started playing the Johnny Cash cover of “Personal Jesus”. The look I got….
@Richard Smith #23:
Get your coat!
(Sorry. Natural reaction to bad puns.)
Who would have known it – the war on Christmas this year is going to end in calls to nuke Japan again. I am stoutly defending its correct name: “Winter Holiday Godzilla”.
…That…is glorious…
Where’s Mothra? Japan has the The War OF Christmas Trees. クリスマスツリーの戦争
Kurisumasutsurī no sensō.
Bill O’Rielly is a fucking idiot = Biruorairī-shi wa kuso bakaka (ビルオライリー氏はクソ馬鹿か) Google Translate of the Bill is idiot to Japanese.
That is 50 different kinds of awesome. I wonder if Gojira’s plates light up…
Tony
It’s things like this that make the EXTREME (and weird) sentimentality of the typical Japanese endearing for me here!
‘Mer’kin sentimentality never is better than saccharine cute, and generally taselessly kitsch without any idea of being so.
Go, go go, Gojira!!!!
Win!
This tree is offensive… you know why.
@21 Pierce R. Butler: Yes, and then the two sides can insert wiring and program the trees as robots and they can fight to the death!!
Ah, forget it. That sounds too hard. Just program that condom tree into a robot to fight Godzilla tree.
I was going to comment on that post saying something about Godzilla and King Kong trees, then decided to comment here instead.
Whoah, this is a true masterpiece (haha). Where was this great picture taken i wonder? Looks like Ikebukuro Sunshine City shopping mall, no? :)
Well, cannot blame Japanese people, Christmas is a bit unnatural for this country anyway, as Japan is not a Christian country to begin with. There is no such thing as Japanese Christmas food, for example :P
(but of course Japanese are very nice, tolerant and accepting toward all religions including Christianity).
you_monster @ #32:
Because those spine plates are actually inflated condoms? :p
Ze Madmax groks what I’m talking about.
I notice this big green male is blowing smoke when some cute females are right at eye level.
Bullshit is drawn to bullshit.
I think you are fascist.
*raspberry*
Oops. Frankb got caught between my snark and you_monster. I hope nothing got on frankb.
argh, PLEASE PLEASE don’t use Google Translate to make up phrases in Japanese that don’t make any sense to a Japanese person. It’s really offensive.
“クリスマスツリーの戦争” does not appear anywhere on the internet but your post, and your google translated sentence is more a question or sigh rather than an affirmative statement.
sorry for double-posting, but I got confused which thread about Christmas this might be more appropriate to post in:
The closest I’ve ever been to celebrating Christmas in Japan was Dec 26, but you do know that the most important holiday in Japan is New Year, so if anything Christmas is just a warm up to it. December is traditionally known as 師走 Shiwasu (“teachers running around”) because Buddhist monks have always been super busy in preparing for religious ceremonies connected to the end of year.
It seems that it has been marketed mainly as an opportunity to exchange gifts amongst loved ones, and also to children, although they also get presents on the much more important New Year holiday.
Japan has a culture of gift-giving, and there are a large number of occasions to exchange gifts, and Christmas has simply become one of them (others include Chūgen in summer, Seibo around New Year, February and March 14th etc. This is a country with only 1% Christians (although acc to some studies, 10% of the elite), but Christmas decorations and so forth have become quite common. The tradition of spending Christmas with your partner has been documented at least since the 30s (there were restaurants selling 1-Yen-Dinners to those “unlucky young men without a partner”, a 1930 Yen is 3000 of 2011 Yen). But it seems to have evolved more into a relaxing-with-family kind of holiday. According to this website,
- 56.8% of respondents spend Christmas at home
- 16.7% alone
- 16.3% with lover/partner (even for unmarried and/or younger people, this never goes above 25%)
- 4% with friends
- 1.9% with a restaurant dinner
- 1.4% of respondents spend Christmas “with their bed”
It can be concluded: the majority of Japanese people spend Christmas alone.
I’m sorry, my conclusion was wrong (I need an edit button).
The vast majority of Japanese spend it at home or alone.
This is cute and totally appropriate to the decor sensibility of most shopping malls.
I just found out that the War on Christmas has been going on much longer than most of us realize. Not only were Christmas trees a pagan German tradition introduced to England by Victoria’s husband; not only does the holiday itself have deep pagan roots in the turning of the year; but also the first Christmas card was non-religious! It was printed in 1843 a man who didn’t have time to write long letters to all his friends. The card is illustrated with two scenes of charity and gift-giving to the poor, flanking a large holiday dinner in which almost everyone is holding a glass of wine. One of those too young to hold her own glass, a little girl of about three, is being given a drink from her mother’s glass. There’s a seasonal greeting and a lot of ivy twined around the scenes. No Christ, no manger, no wise men, no Star of Bethlehem, no religion. The idea quickly caught on among other busy folk with lots of friends. The Puritans objected to the scene of jollity and booze and destroyed the original cards as harmful to society. Consequently, only ten of the First Christmas Card are known to exist.
Wikipfft to the rescue!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Firstchristmascard.jpg
I’ve been in Japan for the passed 9 days. I have not seen one angel, nativity scene or cross on these displays. Just Santa and a bunch of lights. Many of the christmas ads are sexy, noting that christmas over here is about giving gifts to your lover.
The war on christmas has been won over here, and the atheists won it.
marlorocci,
that doesn’t make any sense. Japan is not full of atheists. As I wrote above, the percentage of Christians is at 1% (10% of the elite acc to some sources), but it’s more of a cultural adaptation rather than a religious one.