Despite the small percentage, the Christmas decorations, the icons, and symbols are all present but mostly in department stores. Otherwise it is not very evident. Much like the retailers in Canada, the ones in Japan have turned Christmas into a consumer product. At Iai Girls Christian High School, things are much more meaningful. The singing of the Chorus has been a school tradition for the past 50 years.
Credit goes to the girls and the music programme that is highly developed.
So after a month of serious practising, the final event before the holiday was the Christmas service. We had a glimpse of what that might have been like. As soon as the last note was sung, there were several girls who were overwhelmed with emotion and they could be seen putting their hands over their face and bowing down to collect themselves. Other Christmas events included making wreaths from fresh evergreen branches for all the doors in the school. There was also the annual carolling that took three groups of girls to different parts of the city.