HOLIDAY PHOTO SETS UP ON ETSY

Two beautiful photo sets available now til December 31, 2023 on Etsy.

“Merry Christmas from Japan” and “Happy New Year”

The holidays in Japan can be magical.

Many people struggle to get into the spirit here during the holiday season, but luckily my experience has been different.

See, at home in Western Pennsylvania, Christmas, family, and church are intertwined. While I can’t speak for everyone, this isn’t uncommon. 

For many, the season requires some kind of church service and lots bouncing around the family tree.

Cousins from one side, and aunts and uncles from another. And of course, parents and grandparents, and siblings, nieces, and nephews.

Action-packed.

Although each year injects me with more appreciation for family, it feels like the world gives out a collective sigh when things quiet down.

Til it’s time for New Year’s mode.

When if you’re not careful, that ever-ready panic is there to deceitfully pull you into its glow. The shimmer that will leave you standing in a room you don’t want to be in as the clock hits midnight.

But fly across the world and things are flipped.

Christmas in Japan is more of a celebration of friends and romance, with a casually joyful energy that fills cities with end-of-year parties, trees covered with lights, and non-stop events.

Then on December 26th, it’s like Christmas never happened. The lights, decorations, and discount signs are taken down, as things begin to shift towards the pensive.

Of course debauchery continues, but there’s a noticeable change in the air as people begin looking ahead to their New Year’s plans.

Plans that most likely involve traveling to spend a chunk of days with family. This will also be the time that people begin visiting temples and shrines to give gratitude for the year passed and get their fortune (omikuji) for the year ahead.

This change is quite refreshing.

Though I embrace the spiritual side of the season, especially the Christmas Eve candle light service- a beautiful thing to experience- there’s something fun about being a little blissful during Christmas.

And then, less than a week later, avoiding the anxiety of New Year’s by spending it calmly and reflectively. Maybe with a nice long walk or bike ride around midnight and/or in the morning around sunrise.

I’m ready to experience holidays consistently in America again, but I will always cherish the ones I’ve had in Japan.

And I’m thankful to have rolls of film that document them.

The photos featured in these two sets are images from Osaka, Tokyo, Kanazawa, and Yamanaka Onsen over my last two winters in Japan.

They were all shot on 35mm film and developed at local film labs in Osaka city. 

I hope you can feel the spirit of the holidays in Japan through them.

Both are up on Etsy til December 31, 2023.