Christmas in Japan

Yesterday was a public holiday. This was not because it was Christmas Eve, but because the emperor’s birthday (public holiday) is December 23 and it fell on a Sunday this year. So, it was just a substitute holiday.

Though majority of Japanese are not Christians, we have Christmas. I think our Christmas is just like Halloween. We want to have fun without thinking of the meaning of it. Many people eat chickens of KFC or roasted chickens and cakes decorated with cream and strawberries or chocolate cakes. When I was little, my mother used to take me and my sister to a cake shop so that we could choose between these two kinds of cakes by ourselves. She also took us to a toy shop to buy what we wanted on the spot or gave us presents she chose, because she didn’t care for Santa Claus. My parents are practicalminded people. But these days, more and more parents seem to try to make their children believe in Santa Claus.

As for Christmas cakes, some convenience stores and supermarkets provide vegan options. They are not specifically intended for vegans but for children who are allergic to eggs, milk, and wheat. I have seen some reservation forms of such cakes. They looked as beautiful as other Christmas cakes but too big for me to eat by myself.

Before Christmas, I found that Swedish ginger cookies are vegan. Since then I have wondered if there are any other European traditional vegan sweets for Christmas. So, I went to Entetsu Department Store today. It was noon and not very cold.

On shelves in the basement, there were imported Christmas sweets sold already at half price.

I bought Walkers Rich Fruit Pudding as it seemed to contain no animal products according to the label in Japanese. The package was also attractive.

Before trying it, I peeled off the label in Japanese to check the ingredients in English just to make sure. It said “Suitable for vegetarians” in the last line. I wondered why not vegans. The pudding looked like this when I took it out from the plastic case inside. It had beautiful colors.

The inside looked like this.

It had a dense texture and a very rich taste. It was so rich that I had to check ingredients again to see if any alcohol was contained. To my surprise, no alcohol was written on the package, but I felt my body got a little warmer. It contained much raisins (33%) and mixed spices.

I remembered Agatha Christie’s book “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” and thought this rich pudding was indeed suitable for a feast. Maybe I’ll buy one again next year.