Japanese Christmas Cake

Along with their KFC meal on Christmas Eve in Japan, people also have a Christmas cake or kurisumasu keki. It is basically a sponge cake (angel cake) with whipped cream for frosting and strawberries.

I searched for recipes for sponge cake and they all looked like more work than I was willing to do. So I went to my man the Pillsbury guy and found an angel food cake mix. (Actually many brands of cake mixes have a sponge or angel food mix.) So here is the "recipe".

Japanese Christmas Cake

Angel Food Cake Mix
Make according to directions on package. Bake in two round cake pans and set aside to cool

Frosting:

2 cup heavy whipping cream
4 TB of sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
About 20 strawberries

Use a large cold bowl and make sure your whipping cream is cold. With a hand whip or mixer, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla together until soft peaks form. Put half of whipped cream in another bowl and add about 10 thinly sliced strawberries to one bowl.

Spread frosting with strawberries on one layer of cake and set second layer on top. Use the rest of the frosting to cover the top and sides of cake. Decorate top of cake with whole strawberries.

If this all sounds good but you don't want to do the work, seek out a Chinese/Asian bakery and they will usually have a cake for purchase.

Meri Kurisumasu

On our visit to Epcot at Christmas time last year, we stopped by the Japanese venue. The storyteller there was talking about the New Year's celebration rather than Christmas. That's because since there is only about 1% of the population that observes Christmas it is not an officially recognized holiday in Japan. Yet, there are seasonal decorations in the shopping areas and the Japanese have begun to exchange cards and presents. And Santa is seen on occasion.

The really big tradition is to eat fried chicken on Christmas--all thanks to a successful marketing campaign back in the 1970s by Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now KFCs in Japan have lines streaming around the block as customers wait to pick up their chicken orders which range in price from $40-80.

The New Year's celebration however lasts for four days. The storyteller at Epcot was cast as a Daruma doll sales person. The doll is almost egg shaped, made of paper mache and weighted on the bottom so it doesn't fall over. The eyes are blank. You paint in one eye, make a wish and when the wish is fulfilled you can paint the other eye in.

The dolls are also considered a symbol of perseverance and good luck. They can be a gift of encouragement if instead of a wish, a goal is set by one eye and the other eye painted when the goal is achieved.

Yokohama-Tokyo, Japan

One of the things on our granddaughter's list of things to see in Tokyo was Chinatown in Yokohama. It was a sunny day and we strolled under hanging red lanterns and lights and took in all the sights of this busy area which is a large tourist attraction as well.

Restaurant after restaurant offered different Chinese cuisine and we chose one that we thought was Szechuan. The restaurant had several levels of dining areas and we ended up on the second floor. As usual with Chinese dining, we each ordered a dish to share and then spun the lazy susan to sample them.


After getting a bag of roast chestnuts and some origami paper, we strolled along the Yokohama harbor where a cruise ship was docked. We wondered if we would someday take a cruise and end up there. Always a possibility.


Eventually we found our way to the Cup of Noodle museum where we were introduced to Momofuko Ando, the inventor of instant ramen. He was quite an interesting guy. The process to create the first instant ramen noodles involved deep frying the noodles and was finally perfected in 1958 after much trial and error.


Then in 1971, Momofuko came to the U.S. and discovered that people liked food to go and made his chicken noodles more convenient by putting them in a cup with all the ingredients so that all you needed to do was add hot water. A movie (we were provided an English audio translator) told us of his research and final problem solving to get the dry noodles to fit the cup.


Momofuko didn't slow down as he aged. He continued to invent and came up with ramen noodles for space in 2005 when he was into his 90s.


The museum is designed to be interactive and one part of it was called the Noodle Factory where we paid to participate. We purchased a cup that had a design drawn on it but were given a seat at a table where we could add all the colors we wanted and even add to the design. When we were satisfied with our cup, we could take it to the factory area where an attendant took the cup and filled it with noodles.


Then came the decisions of what to flavor our noodles with. Some chose curry, some tomato, and others the favorite chicken base. Four choices of other dried ingredients were allowed and we chose from chicken, veggies, and other flavorful tidbits.


Once the ingredients were all in the cup, it was passed to another attendant who sealed it, then wrapped it in plastic seal wrap and sent it through a heater to shrink the wrap. The last step required us to put the cup in a sealed bag and inflate it with a balloon pump. This insured that our cup of noodles would make it home safely. The kids enjoyed tying the bags with the red cords to carry over their shoulder.


By the time we were done, it was already dark outside. The sun sets around 4:30 in Tokyo in late December. Our son and his wife took us to the train that we needed to ride home with the kids and went on the date night we had told them to take while they had ready babysitters. We got off at our stop for home and walked a few blocks to get Domino's pizza for dinner. Our twelve year old helped with the order although I think the clerk spoke some English.


Pizza, Coke, chestnuts, a movie, and a round of Uno finished our evening. Some things don't change even when you travel 6,000 miles away.

And All Through The House

The day before Christmas Eve. A little shopping.

Lunch at Sushi Smart, a sushi restaurant that sends your order to your table by automated "train" after you make your choices on an electronic tablet at your table.

A wander through a large nature preserve in the middle of the city and then back to the area where my son lives for dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, Bel Air, named after the California city. The owner has been gleaning ideas for his menu from my son's descriptions of favorite dishes. The Skyline chili is not exactly what we know but it was good.

Christmas Eve day was beautiful and sunny. We made our way to another movie theater and once our tickets were purchased, sent Mommy out for some free time and we sat with the kids to watch Baymax which is titled Big Hero 6 in the States. The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles but there were also times for the movie where it was all in Japanese.

Around the corner we found a McDonald's and like all kids, they were excited to make it our stop for lunch. Bob and I found a last minute Christmas gift and thankfully the Starbucks' clerk spoke English as we left the kids with their mom to finish lunch.

Next it was on to the Microsoft building where my son is employed for a tour of his work place. It was very modern and very different in atmosphere from the Seattle offices he used to work in. Everyone greeted us warmly and it was nice getting to see some of the people he works with. A mom always likes to picture where her children are especially when they are so far away. Now I will have in my mind what his work and home are like.

Back home, we decided to take a stroll to the park where the kids play on a playground, The sun was setting and we suddenly realized in looking down another side street, we could make out Mt. Fuji silhouetted against the colorful sky. Sun sets around 4:30 in Tokyo in late December but it rises a little earlier at 6:45 AM.

Dinner at a local yakitori place (chicken parts grilled on a stick) and then home to get prepared for Santa. When all were in pajamas, we read the Christmas story from Luke. The nearest English-speaking church did not have services on Christmas Eve but rather on Christmas Sunday. We sang a carol and then read The Night Before Christmas.

Children all snuggled in beds, it was time for Christmas magic and a little cookie eating with some milk and tea.

Christmas morning was like any Christmas morning back home filled with children's giggles and laughter and exclamations of surprise and excitement--at 4:30 AM! It was fun watching them shake packages as they waited for the other adults to appear.

Christmas dinner was a little different than back home. Our daughter-in-law ordered ahead for our bucket of chicken from KFC, a tradition no matter how you celebrate Christmas day in Japan and the guys picked it up after a short train trip to the nearest KFC. We were happy to indulge in a little back home flavor followed later by the most delicious strawberry cream cake you could imagine. It was so light it just melted in your mouth.

All in all, Christmas is what you make of it no matter where in the world you spend it. Traditions may change a bit but the meaning of the season, the reason for the season, never does.

Our Christmas Week in Japan

While our first full day in Tokyo was rainy and cold, the next morning brought sunshine and an early riser. Our oldest granddaughter wanted some one-on-one time with Grandma and was willing to sacrifice sleeping in to get ahead of her younger siblings. We finished breakfast quickly and walked to a trail next to a small river. The walk was beautiful as we followed the babbling water and enjoyed the fresh air and the sunshine that illuminated the Japanese maples arrayed in autumn colors.

I received a lesson in hand washing, a ritual that is done before entering a shrine or temple so that you don't carry anything bad into it. The trough of water had a scoop that you use to pour the water on your hands. I remembered the ritual from our son's Shinto wedding service. (He and his wife were married in a church in the states and then we went to Japan for a traditional service with her family.) High on a hill above the river was a temple but along the way there were several smaller shrines.

When we returned, she took her grandfather along the walk and then to a 7-11 store (they still have those in Japan) and found an ATM so that he could get some yen. A hundred yen roughly equates to a US dollar. The kids are learning a new money system as well as new cultural experiences.

Our outing for the day included a stop at a Chinese dumpling place whose dumplings were filled with broth as well as pork or crab meat. They were delicious. After walking around a bit there to see the stores we happened onto the Sweet Forest. It was tucked into a corner but once you entered, it was like going into a food court at a mall back home only this food court only featured different types of desserts. Bob and I settled on a chocolate banana crepe while others had a strawberry crepe or a gelatin dessert or a waffle with ice cream. Definitely a favorite place.

Another train ride to another prefecture (section of Tokyo) and we found ourselves at the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world at Shibuya station at the Hachiko exit. The exit is named for the Akita Inu who would walk with his master to the station each day and then wait for him to return from work. One day his master had a heart attack and died and the dog, Hachi, kept watch at the station for nine years until he finally died. There is a statue on the square in front of the station dedicated to Hachi.

True to its designation, the intersection was packed with people as the walk signal changed and people crossed in all directions. We walked a bit and saw quite a collection of people some dressed in costume probably for the Christmas season. We were a bit tired. Lots of walking and trying to stay together in all the crowds. We decided to head for home and watch a Christmas movie.

After we kept falling asleep during the Muppet Christmas Story, we decided on an early-to-bed time especially because the next day our littlest needed to go to school for one more day. She is in a Japanese school while the older kids are in an international school. The international school follows a schedule much like ours back home but they have a month off instead of two weeks.

The next morning we walked our little one to school--about a kilometer. Usually daddy takes her to school on his bike. Then it was off to the dentist for the two older ones and a movie for later. Some things are still routine even at Christmas time.

After the movie and a taste of soy-buttered popcorn, we met up again with everyone in the Grand Hyatt in the Rappongi district which was next to the theater, We enjoyed the Christmas decorations and explored the area stopping to indulge in a little Coldstone ice cream. Then walked what seemed like a couple of kilometers to see the older kids' school.

The last time we were in Japan the family got to make a visit to the Pachinko parlor in Sapporo. It's the Japanese version of a casino. Since I didn't get to go that time, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. My son and husband indulged me while my daughter-in-law took the kids shopping. It didn't take long to decide it wasn't my cup of tea. From the outside you would never guess how noisy it was. We had to shout in each other's ear. Pachinko machines have little metal balls that fall down vertically through a series of pins and if they go into the right holes, then you earn more balls. The balls that are expelled at the bottom of the machine will earn you merchandise which can then be taken around the corner and sold thereby earning you money for your efforts. It didn't take long to waste $8.

The evening ended with "hamburgers" at a place called The Butcher. The meat was excellent but came on a plate with mashed potatoes and your choice of sauce. I had a lemon-soy sauce that was very good. Not your usual hamburger joint but truly a good meal.

Our Christmas Week in Japan

There is no sweeter sound than arriving at an airport and hearing your grandchildren yell, "Grandma! Grandpa!" After a twelve hour flight spent with a Christmas movie marathon--we watched five Christmas movies on Bob's iPad, it was revitalizing to hear their voices. Narita airport is about an hour's train ride from their home in Tokyo so we spent some time catching up and then entertaining ourselves with electronics.

This was our first trip to Tokyo since we were here on our way to our son's wedding in Sapporo. It was the opportunity to look at the city in a different light. While we are still tourists of sorts, we now got to see Tokyo from a perspective of living there.  Our children's house is much smaller than what it was in Seattle and that has been a big adjustment for all of them.

My daughter-in-law has had to learn to cook in a kitchen that, while very nice, is about a third of the size she was used to. Since having a car is not a good option in the city, our son has learned to be a train commuter. Our youngest granddaughter had to adjust a toilet that made a slight noise as the seat heated up. She's adjusted fine now that the weather is colder and the warm seat feels good.

They are a great family that seems to do well with new things so after six months of living in the city, they had quite a long list of things they wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa starting with their favorite restaurants. Our first night was soba in a small restaurant near them. The wheat noodles were in different flavored broths and since I wasn't really hungry, I got to sample what everyone else got.

Our next day it rained constantly and we changed some plans and headed for a mall where there were Christmas decorations and a Santa. The Japanese love to dress the kids in outfits for pictures and the Santa line had several fur trimmed red capes and things to put on the kids for pictures with Santa. Santa was a little skinnier than ours back home.

Lunch was tappanyaki (grill) style. Think hibachi but smaller and you do your own cooking. Our young chefs wanted to show off their skills and we were treated to okonomiyaki and monjayaki. They are dishes that are cooked on the grill and have cabbage, seafood, flour and tempura flakes. I'm sure there's more ingredients but as it cooks and gets stirred, it thickens and gets crusty if you let it cook long enough. It tasted so good it was hard to wait for it to form the crust. There were several other side dishes we cooked including a big pancake type dish that our grandson showed us how to flip--a bit precariously.

Our last stop for the day was the Fujiko-F-Fujio museum in Kawasaki City, a part of Tokyo. Fujiko-F-Fujio is the original author of the Doraemon manga series. The cartoon character is a gadget cat from the future and has all sorts of things in his pocket to help his friends get out of trouble. The original drawings are featured in the museum along with lots of things for kids to do. There is an audio guide that is available in several languages and made it easy to follow along with the life and career of this amazing artist and author. As our son was telling us that Doraemon will also be in the US thanks to Disney, we were exiting the museum right into a souvenir shop--just like at Disney.

Celebrating Christmas in Japan

Having a Japanese daughter-in-law has given us the wonderful privilege of glimpsing another culture. It has been fascinating. This year we will get to travel to Japan to spend some time with our son and his family who are living there for a few years. I've learned that you cannot generalize about the traditions of the Japanese culture. What may happen in one corner of the country does not necessarily happen all over the country. With that in mind, it will be an interesting trip seeing what Tokyo is like at Christmas time.

One of the things that we are told to expect is the traditional KFC chicken dinner. It seems that KFC has really taken off as the go-to for Christmas dinner. So much so that KFC  even has special packaging and advertising with the advice to order early. Our son's wife tells us that the lines for deep fried chicken extend around the block a lot like our Honey Baked Ham lines in the States at the holidays.

While only one percent of the population of Japan is said to be Christian, the holiday has still become a fun time as Western ways have influenced Japanese culture. According to one article I read, Christmas is mostly a commercial event. It is not recognized as a national holiday and schools and businesses will still be open. Our grandkids will be on a break from school however, because they go to an international school that follows the school calendar as we do in the States.

Another article writes that Christmas cake is traditional. It is sponge cake, strawberries, and whipped cream. There are trees, Santas (Colonel Sanders statures will be sporting Santa suits I read) and seasonal illuminations. My son said to be prepared for a lot of Merry Xmas signs.

Our Christmas stopped being truly traditional many years ago as the kids grew and left home to establish their own traditions. I won't miss a white Christmas although if it gets cold enough it could snow in Tokyo. And I think KFC chicken will be a unique alternative to the pork roast we used to have. Sharing Christmas with family is the only tradition I still love to keep and that will happen albeit spread out between now and the middle of January in order to see all of them.

So lookout Tokyo! I'm ready for a new Christmas adventure.