It is interesting to compare the Japanese and US holiday season. Both celebrate Christmas and the New Year in some form, but the emphasis is different. In the US, schools get out the week of Christmas, but our kids here in Japan went to school on Christmas Eve. Schools in the US have already started school (4th), but our kids start school next week (the 11th). In the US, "Merry Christmas" is a common greeting, but when we went to a Japanese church on the 1st of January, most people came up to me and in what Americans would call 'formal,' bowed and said, "Happy New Year!" In the US, Christmas is emphasized and in Japan the New Year is emphasized.
