Santa Claus - Santa Kurosu

Santa Claus has become a typical figure of the Christmas season all over the world. The image of an older man wearing a red suit with a snow-white beard and carrying a large gift bag to distribute to the children is familiar to everyone.

It is easy to see Santa Claus in statues, stickers, candies, clothes, etc., which are commonly sold in Japanese shopping streets and commercial centers. The Japanese call Santa Claus "Santa Kurosu".

During a trip to Osaka during the Christmas season, I heard an interesting story about a "truly Japanese" Santa told by my local friend.

Once upon a time, there was a god in Japan. He had a very kind appearance and personality, similar to the Western Santa Claus. He loved to give gifts to good children. Stories tell that this god has an eye on the back of his head so that he can see everything in this world.

Therefore, Japanese children believe that he knows their good and bad deeds to reward or punish. Although he has nothing to do with Christmas, the Japanese consider this god Japan's Santa Claus!

KFC Fried chicken

In Western countries, one of the most typical dishes in this festival is roasted turkey. However, in Japan, KFC fried chicken has become the most favored dish on Christmas Day.

I still remember that we had to queue early and wait for more than an hour to buy a box of KFC chicken. The KFC stores on the streets of Osaka were almost full of people and had no space to squeeze in.

I was pretty surprised because of that, and then I found out, KFC ran a unique ad stating that this was a traditional Western dish during Christmas, so Japanese people believe it and rush to stores to have this chicken every Christmas.

What an amusing advertising "trick" that brings a lot of success, right guys ^^

A one-of-a-kind promotion for Single Girls

At that time, in Osaka, there was an exciting program. I was walking on the Dotonbori pedestrian street and found that many pastry shops were having this one-of-a-kind promotion.

Christmas cake shops will offer special discounts to customers if requested, on a very simple condition: you are 25 years old or older and are still single.

Perhaps in Japan, Christmas is considered as the second Valentine's Day, so this program was implemented as a small gift for single girls!

Sadly, I did not receive any promotions, but the bakery owner still happily gave me a cute little candy.

Apart from the exciting things above, the land of the rising sun has many more beautiful things. What a wonderful Christmas in Osaka, I will be back here one day soon!