We ate so much mochi we thought we would surely explode and my freezer is stuffed with all the mochi which our hosts forced into our hands in spite of our protests. Good thing both Leandro and I like mochi, but neither of us could look mochi in the eye for at least a week afterward. I did send some mochi back to the Marshall Islands with him and he has been eating it there. Christmas day we relaxed. Christmas in Japan is not a big deal.
Most stores are still open and very few people have it as a holiday.
Most of the holiday is imported from the west and the younger Japanese think it cool to celebrate like Americans. And, of course, the stores capitalize on it to sell more merchandise. Mr. Hideo had many questions for Leandro and Misako Ina asked him all about Argentina. Sabbath, we were in Hofu. All three of my junior high school girls came out of curiosity to see Leandro.