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Simon and I will fly back Europe tomorrow, where we will spend Christmas and New Year with our families and friends mainly in Austria and Switzerland. My posts will be unregular during that time, but everything should be back to normal by mid-January or so.

Funnily, this year I have more of that "Christmas feeling" than in other years, although I’ve been spending the pre-Christmas season in a country that doesn’t actually celebrate Christmas, at least not in the way we do (I have been told that Christmas Eve is a popular night for romantic dates in Japan). Also, with the tiny kitchen in our temporary apartment, and lacking some ingredients, I have been "deprived" of baking my usual "Vanillekipferl" this year...

But with New Year coming up, too (a very important family occasion here), there is definitely something of a festive season in the air. There actually is quite nice Christmas decoration here and there – glittery lights are always popular in Japan, regardless of traditions or belief – but it is just not quite as overloaded as in Europe or the US. There’s a small "German-style" Christmas market at nearby Roppongi Hills, where you can have "Glühwein" at the typical cute little food stalls, put up between the sky scrapers. It is certainly different, but it just feels like a hint of Christmas…

Maybe this is what got me into this stronger-than-usual Christmas mood. Maybe it is the frequent pleasantly chilly but clear days, which really call for a Christmas shopping stroll outside. Or maybe it is because I am further away from family and friends and I really look forward to seeing them. In any case this season is really enjoyable.