Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all of you!

Most of you reading this probably read last year's Christmas Page, but those of you who didn´t might enjoy checking that out too (probably even more than this page). As I make this page before I go to Emma in Fukuoka on December 21 I couldn't put up a page of the same kind as last year, but you will be able to read about how I spent my Christmas and New Year's after I return to Sapporo in the middle of January. Instead this is a little page about my time in Sapporo just before I go to Fukuoka.

The snow came to Sapporo with a blast this year, and they say that it hasn't snowed like this at this time the last 30 years. In three days it snowed over 1 m! Since there doesn't seem to be any plowing the cars just run over the snow flattening it down. As you might imagine, the sidewalks are even worse. At many places the sidewalks are completely covered by walls of snow, so you have to walk on the road. One funny thing is the parking lots. It seems that a lot of people leave their cars at parking lots without using them for days, so after these three days of heavy snow most of the cars in the parking lots were completely buried in snow. It looked really weird. 

I will spend my Christmas together with Emma in Nakama in Fukuoka prefecture (see the map on the travellog index page if you wonder where that is). Christmas in Japan usually means nothing more than a Christmas cake and maybe a romantic date with Champagne, but in Sweden Christmas is a very important holiday when the family gathers and decorates the house, cooks huge amounts of Christmas food and sweets and, most importantly, spend time with each other. It is one of the most important dates of the year, if not the most. Therefore, my parents have sent me stuff so that we can make some Swedish Christmas food and sweets. I really look forward to it. This is actually the first Christmas I spend apart from my family. I really wanted to go home to Sweden over Christmas, but for one thing it is very expensive, and for another I haven't seen Emma for several months and I just have to see her.

I think this Christmas will be a great Christmas, and I also look forward to New Year's. From what I've been told it has the same importance to the Japanese as Christmas has to the Swedish. There are even New Year cards much like the Christmas cards. In contrast, the Swedish New Year's is nothing more than Champagne, fireworks and an excuse to party your pants off. I usually spend it quietly with my parents, but most people I know spend it partying with old and new friends.

Central Sapporo is presently lighted up like a Christmas tree, with the most colourful and glittering lights decorating Odori Park. The whole illumination thing is called Sapporo White Illumination. It is pretty, but it doesn't exactly leave a deep impression. What does leave an impression are the number of photographers. At least a third of the people in Odori Park at this time either take photos of the illuminated park or have their pictures taken with the illuminated park in the background. I wonder how it will be during the Snow Festival in February.

Here are a few sketches from my sketch/note book. The first one is a giant with trees and bushes instead of hair on his body. It is inspired from the giant Jorm in the unique and great partly animated Swedish movie Dunderklumpen! (1974). I don't know where I got the inspiration for the other two sketches from. 

The year 2002 is the year of the horse according to Japanese tradition. Each year is represented by a specific animal from the Chinese zodiac. I'm not very familiar with the history around this so I'm even going to try and explain about that, but there are 12 animal signs in the zodiac which incidentially means that I am born in the sign of the horse. So next year belongs to me! Well I don't actually know what it means if it means anything at all, but if you know what it means and it means something bad - please don't let me know... (a lot of means in the same sentence there, huh)

Last, but not least, a Christmas greeting from me and the guys in Happa-tai (The Leaf Team). For those of you who don't recognize them I can tell you that these are some of the members in a comedy show called Warau Inu no Bouken (The Adventure of the Laughing Dog). Earlier this year these guys performed dressed like this dancing around and singing a silly song called Yatta! (We/I/you/someone did it!). The humour in Warau Inu no Bouken could probably best be explained to Swedish people as resembling the Swedish comedy troupe Galenskaparna & Aftershave at their silliest moments. Anyway, I hope it is obvious that the photo is a fake... Oh, just forget about it and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

GOD

JUL