I would like to take my son to see Santa somewhere in Tokyo, but I don't know of anyplaces that would have one. If someone knows of a department store or any other place to see Santa this year, please let me know.

Thank you.

Intercultural Families of Saitama, a support group for bicultural families living in Japan, will be holding a potluck Christmas Party near Sayamagaoka Station (Seibu Ikebukuro Line).

WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
There will be games for the children, music, caroling, and a visit from Santa Claus. Please bring a dish per adult (and child over 8) to share, and a gift for each of your children to put in Santa's pack.

Contact milkat@gol.com
or call/fax 0429-48-5977 for further details.

Santa Claus will be at the Isetan Department store in the promotional area on the 7th floor of the main building at the following times:

December 18 (Sat) - 24 (Fri) at 12, 2, 4, and 6 pm.

Staff will take polaroid photos for the first 60 customers. For more information, please contact: Toko Shimizu of Isetan Foreign Customer Service by tel: 03-3225-2514 or fax: 03-3225-2513.

Isetan Department Store
3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
This store is hard to miss! Go out the JR Shinjuku Station east exit and turn right. (I think they are closed Wednesdays, anyone know for sure?)

P.S. Just found out, during this busiest time of year they are open every day and even have extended hours.

Well, it's that time of year. People are starting to get in the holiday mood.

Today I read a story in the Kumanichi (local paper) about a mountain that is now decorated to look like a huge Christmas tree. The mountain, called O^zuyama (I hope this is the correct reading), is located in Nankan (which is north of Kumamoto City, near the border with Fukuoka Prefecture). Until the 9th of January it will be lit up every night from 6 to 10. I hope I'll have a chance to show it to my children before Christmas.

You can see a picture of the mountain lit up at night at the following address:

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews/991206/2.2.jpg

Here is the address of the Japanese article:

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews/991206/kiji2.2.html

Dear Ms. Cornelia Kurz,

Thank you for your facsimile of December 1st.

We do have a few Christmas events for children, but most of them are already full.

The event that we can still introduce is a event called "Santa to isshoni Family Christmas" which means "Party with Santa Claus" in the bufffet style restaurant "The Rainbow Room".

This is a lunch party with Santa Claus and the children can sing songs and Santa will go around to all the guest's tables to say Merry Christmas and to take a photograph if the guests like to. And there will be a gift for each child.
For adult 7,000 yen, child (4 to elementry school student) 5,000 yen and child (3 and under) 3,000 yen, excluding tax. The dates are 23, 24, 25 December, 11:30am to 1:00pm, and 1:30pm to 3:00 pm, but only 24 is still possible.

If you need further information, please contact me any time.

Sincerely, Mana Komatsu
Marketing & Planning, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Tel 03-3539-8015, Fax 03-3504-1474

More info from Imperial Hotel, Hibiya, Tokyo (Hibiya subway station):

"And if there is someone who can speak or read Japanese, we have Christmas information on our internet homepage
http://www.imperialhotel.co.jp
so please have a look.
Our hotel is now decorated so if you have any chance to come, please drop in."

Sapporo: International Christian Fellowship Church (http://www.voicenet.co.jp/~icf/indexe.htm) will have a bi-lingual service on Dec. 23 at 17:00 with Christmas Party (and buffet), Gospel music, etc.
For more information about the church, telephone numbers, access, and other events please see their homepage.

Kumamoto International Church will have its annual Christmas Celebration

Thursday, December 23 (Japanese National Holiday) from 5:00pm

It will mostly be in both English and Japanese. Everyone is welcome:
-English Children's Drama of Jesus' birth
-Christmas Service with organ and candles
-Christmas mini-concert
-Christmas Party

We already have around 60 kindergarten and school-aged children coming, and there will be a program for younger kids during the service and concert. We are planning to finish by about 8:30 because there are many children, and also some people are driving from far away.

We have parking for about 45 cars, but if you drive, you should come a little early. We are also looking for people to help us by bringing food. If you want to help, please contact me (see below).

Place: Kumamoto Shirakawa Church near the Daiei on Densha Doori
call (096) 371-0679 or e-mail: kic@mtwo.com for more information.

Craig Roberts

Sapporo Christian Group is having a Christmas party on December 18th from 6 p.m..
Program includes music, games, skits, potluck dinner and a Christmas message.
If you can attend, please call Shuhei or Kate Sato at 011-583-2747 or email acts29@ibm.net or shuheisato-kate@pop17.odn.ne.jp
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!!

Address:
Toyohira-ku, Hiragishi 5 jo 9 chome 7-15, Nagai Building
3rd Floor (close to Toyohira Ward Office and Tsukisamu Park-nearest subway
stations are Misono and/or Minami Hiragishi).
Telephone: 011-825-7567

Kumamoto City:
1999 CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE

Dear Christmas friends,
This is a time and chance for you to make a child wonderfully happy here in Kumamoto Prefecture through the annual CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE. I am sending this message on behalf of Pastor Nathan Bowman, who has for 13 years now with his family distributed toys for children in institutions all over Kumamoto and also in Oita. More than 730 children this year would not have any present for Christmas if it weren't for the efforts put out through the CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE.
You can make your contribution by giving 2000yen or buying a toy worth about 2000yen and bring it or send it to the place below. Please do so before the 19th of December as these toys will be distributed from next week.

If you can help make a child happy this year don't miss the chance. Kids right here in town need to feel that they too are loved and cared for.

Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas!
Bruno Jactat (If any questions please contact me)
bruno@gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
Places to drop off or send the presents to:

CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE
Kuwamizu Lutheran Church
1-14-1 Kuwamizu
Kumamoto City 862-0954

THANK YOU!

Do you know what would have happened if it had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men?

They would have asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts.

I read a little article in the local paper about a big Christmas tree (10 meters tall, 4 meters across at the base) that was put up in the "JT (Japan Tobacco) Kumamoto Housing Garden" which I think is right across the street from the entrance to Kumamoto Gakuen University (Oe 3 chome) -- it's very close to me but I haven't seen it yet.

Here's a picture of it:
http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews/991219/1.5.jpg

The article says that kids can write messages to Santa that will be taped to the tree -- an interesting way of infusing Japanese tradition (from Shinto shrines) with Christmas.

Happy holidays!
Kirk Masden

P.S. The address for the Japanese article is:
http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews/991219/kiji1.5.html

The Kumanichi has a page introducing spots to see Christmas lights in Kumamoto (the page is in Japanese but is made up mostly of pictures):

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/Xmas/Xmas99/Xmas99.html

One of the better spots is very near my apartment on the Higashi Bypass, in Obiyama (which is in Kumamoto City):

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/Xmas/Xmas99/991128.html

Also this is a bit late, but I'd like to write a bit about the Aso Christmas Balloon Festival. It's already started and will continue until noon Sunday. I'm going to go up there with my family tomorrow (Saturday). I'm particularly interested in seeing the balloons light up the sky at night and the fireworks show planned for that evening. I called and found out that if you go to the Uchinomaki area of Aso you'll have no trouble finding the event. If you'd like to call to get more information the number to dial is: 0967-23-6110. If you'd like to look at a poster (mostly in English) that has been put up to advertise the event please look at the following page:

http://www.aso.ne.jp/~aso/asox%27mas.html

I found the basic information (in Japanese) about this event at the following site:

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/leisure/leisure9/ibent3.html

Santa Claus is coming to Isetan Department Store (Shinjuku) 7th floor Main Building.
December 20 - 24
Picture sessions (300 yen) for children who have been naughty and nice this year are at 12:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00. (The first 40 children who arrive can have picture taken at each session.)

Santa will also welcome customers at the main entrance at opening and pass out candies.

There will be "Christmas Mini Concerts" on the 1st floor of the Annex Building as follows:
December 23, 14:00, 16:00, and 18:00
December 24, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00

A Christmas "Live Event" will be held on the 2nd floor of the Main Building for 15 minutes as follows:
December 23 and 24, 15:00 and 17:00

If you are an I Club member, there is a special drawing for 20 lucky winners of a 5000 yen restaurant coupon to the Isetan's Eat Paradise Restaurants valid until 31 January 2001. The procedure is to collect all your Isetan Shinjuku receipts dated from 28 November to 25 December and bring them to the I Club Counter. You get one ticket for every 3000 yen spent (excluding tax, receipts for gift certificates, gold and silver bars, purchases at other Isetan stores). All your tickets are filled out with your name and dropped in the drawing box.

What is the I Club?
It is a special service for Isetan's foreign customers. Membership is free and includes complimentary parking, an I Club Newsletter in English once a month, special prices for members on selected items, complimentary tickets to Isetan's Museum of Art (for members and their family), personal shopping assistance, optional Big and Tall network membership, entertainment ticketing. The I Club desk is located on the 7th floor of the main building at Isetan Department Store:
3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022
Tel: 03-3225-2514 Fax: 03-3225-2513 iclub@isetan.co.jp

Christmas shopping:
Maruzen Bookstore at Ochanomizu station is having a nice sidewalk sale. There are some bins with 50% off stuff in them, other markdowns and a decent selection of Children's books in English as well as the Harry Potter calendars (about 2000 yen) and so on. Tel: (03) 3295-5581

---The "Tokyo Millenario" Festival of Light is to be held again this year-end, with the Marunouchi District as its main venue. The scheduled dates are Monday December 24th to Tuesday January 1st, and the event will be promoted by the Tokyo Millenario Organizing Committee. "Spalliera" wall-projection lightworks will again be seen in the Plaza of the Tokyo International Forum --- close to Tokyo Station.
Tokyo Millenario Organizing Committee Secretariat Tel. 03-3287-5208
http://www.tif.or.jp/forum/eng/ff/vol23new.html

Cornelia suggested I add notice of this event here. Please feel free to come along.

Xmas.Net - Tokyo's Biggest Christmas Networking Bash for Professionals
Wednesday, 5 December 2001

Don't miss the early bird discount: Y6,000 for advance payment; Y7,500 at the door. (Details below and at http://www.jellyfishmedia.com/xmas). Reservations can be emailed to: xmas@tokyopc.org.

Organized by Code-J, the International Computer Association, International Women in Communications and the Tokyo PC Users Group.

Bigger and Better and Not To Be Missed.
This year's Christmas Party will feature music, a top quality buffet and three hours open bar at one of Tokyo's most famous venues.

-- All-you-can-eat (about 14 items) and all-you-can-drink (about 14 cocktails/ beer/ soft drinks to choose from)
-- 3 and 1/2 hrs use of the entire restaurant including the patio and private rooms
-- 16 bartenders, in addition to food serving staff to assist with the party

For more details please check out http://www.jellyfishmedia.com/xmas.

=============================
Date: Wednesday 5th December 2001
Time: 7.00 p.m. - 10.00 p.m. (Doors open at 6.30 p.m.)
Location: Shirogane La Boheme 1F and 2F
4-19-17 Shiroganedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3442-4488
Map: http://www.global-dining.com/global/english/rest/labo/siro.html.
Transport: 5 minutes walk from Shirogane-dai station, 15 minutes walk from Hiroo or JR Meguro station, east exit.
Cost: 6,000 yen in advance; 7,500 yen on the door

RSVP Requested. See details below.
=============================
Advance Registration Procedure:
A. Payment on the night:
If you intend to pay 7,500 yen at the door, please send a mail to xmas@tokyopc.org giving your name and the total number of your party.

B. Advance Payment:
1) Transfer (ginko furikomi) 6,000 yen per person to the following account:
Bank Name: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Branch Name: Gotanda Nishiguchi #233
Account Type: Regular (Futsuu)
Account Number: 1439936
Account Name: XMAS

2) Send an e-mail to xmas@tokyopc.org with the following information:
- Full names of those attending.
- Your bank account number, account name and the transferred amount and the date it was sent.

3) You will receive a confirmation mail.
Send any queries to xmas@tokyopc.org.
=============================

See these web sites for more details about the organizing groups:
Code-J: http://www.codej.org
International Computer Association: http://www.ica.gol.com
International Women in Communications: http://www2.gol.com/users/iwic/
Tokyo PC Users Group: http://www.tokyopc.org

=============================
For further details or updates please refer to the event website, http://www.jellyfishmedia.com/xmas, designed by Douglas Janiskee of Jellyfish Media.

Xmas Tree lighting up dates ??

Does anyone know of where there will be a Xmas tree lighting up time??
Also where are the best Xmas tree and lights in Tokyo to be found?

Happy Xmas to all

Forwarding this from a Japanese email list, in case anyone is interested.
Natalia
--
I thought you may be interested to know that there is a special price for mailing Christmas cards at the post office. I don't know which countries it applies to, but I do know it is OK for the USA. I send big, American cards that usually cost at least 250 yen for each card. If you write "Christmas Card" on the front of the envelope and tell the clerk at the post office it is a Christmas card, it will only cost 110 yen (the cost of a letter). Many small post offices do not know about this service, but if you tell them to check, they will find out.
--
5 December 2001
Since there were people interested in the message allow me to make one more
addition which came today:
--
This works for any greeting card, any time of year, including birthdays,
and is in the rule book as "Greeting Card" rule, so rather than writing
Christmas card, write (in katakana) "GuRiTiNGu Ka-Do". I just did it this
morning, and the poor post office guy did have to look up the rule, but he
found it and the cards are on the way. It works for any international mail
sent from Japan.
--
Hope this will save some of you lots of money!

Yokohama:
Christmas Decorations in old residential houses up on the bluff in Yamate-cho in Yokohama. (Near the Foreign residents' cemetary, a 10 minute walk from Motomachi Station.)

Five old residential houses have been decorated for Christmas.
These houses are a kind of heritage museum, managed by Yokohama City. They are open all year round to the public from 9:30 to 17:00. The Christmas decorations are on till December 25th.

Bluff No. 111 Finnish Christmas Tel: 045 623 2957
Bluff No. 234 Korean Christmas Tel: 045 625 9393
Ehrismann House Swiss Christmas Tel: 045 211 1101
Bluff No. 18 Italian Christmas Tel: 045 662 6318
The Home of a Diplomat American Christmas Tel: 045 662 8819

Rosmarie Nakanishi decorated the Ehrismann House in an old
traditional Swiss Christmas style.

The Yokohama Bluff is a very special area and on the way home you can view the Christmas lights in Motomachi and walk over to China Town. All in walking distance or a short taxi ride.

The houses will be on NHK 1 in their morning program ”おはよう　 日本”　 7am and 8am ふるさと　 on Dec. 22

Dear Tracy,

The only places to see really great Christmas trees are generally in the big hotels. Sometimes a department store might have a nice one.

The trees at the Imperial Hotel this year are a bit uninspired but my daughter liked them very much anyway as well as the big reindeer over the side entrance.

The Westin Hotel in Ebisu has a nice and very big tree in the lobby with lots of little figures and miniature sets arranged at the base which is pretty good entertainment for little kids but watch out -- they like to touch! They really look festive with lots of gold bunting on the stair railings.

Hope this helps! BTW a lot of this stuff comes down really fast at the end of Christmas day to make room for the Japanese New Year decorations...

From Isetan Department Store by email 30 October 2002:

"After checking with our sales and promotional section regarding the event for Christmas this year, I am afraid to advise you that it seems Santa is not coming to Isetan this year. Instead of Santa, the event for Christmas this year would be Anpanman (famous character from Japanese cartoon), and also other event featuring Snoopy and his friends."

It seems that Santa is no longer popular in the Tokyo commercial circle. If anyone knows of any Santas coming to town in privately sponsored events that are open to the public, please let us know!

Tokyo Union Church (Harajuku/Omotesando) Christmas Events:
8 Nov 2002, 10:00 - 16:00 Tokyo Union Church Christmas Craft Boutique
7 Dec (Sat), 18:30 British Embassy Choir Concert email: jones@investukjapan.org

Christmas services:
24 Dec three services 4 pm, 7 pm, 9:30 pm
25 Dec 10:00 am
Website: http://www2.gol.com/users/tuc/

Christmas Bazaars
Santa Maria in Nerima-ku, Christmas Bazaar
10 November 2002, 10:00 - 15:00
Lots of food, raffle, games, bingo, all done by parents, new and old things for sale
School bus will shuttle to Nerima takanodai station (about 15 minutes from Ikebukuro station on the Seibu Ikebukuro line)
OR Iogi station on the Seibu Shinjuku line (about 18 minutes from Shinjuku) will also have school bus shuttle to the school.
The best public bus goes from Asagaya station (Chuo/Sobu line): Shakuji Koen bus, get off at Hachinaribashi eki

St. Maur International School
17 November 10:00 - 16:00
Christmas Bazaar hosted by vendors and parents. New things for sale and some children's games (like face painting), Also the school's children's choir is performing twice (details are not yet set. Probably also will have a "Santa's grotto" (young children can sit on Santa's lap) from 11:00 - 13:00.

Santa?
I wish to take my 1 year old too see Santa on his first X'mas. Does anyone knows where the Santa is in Tokyo? Do we allow to take photos together with him?

Santa has been know to turn up at the Isetan in Kichijoji, he does allow photos and he usually comes loaded with sweeties.
This Santa is pretty good and the photos are about 300 yen.
Check out the Isetan in Kichijoji, sorry at the mo have no contact numbers???

This just came in:
At the Hotel Inter-Continental (03)-5404-2222 in Hamamatsucho there will be 3 Christmas music performances in the lobby daily 22-25 December 2002.
Times: 18:00-18:20, 18:50-19:10 and 19:40-20:00
Performing groups:
22 Dec. University of Seishin Choir
23 Dec. Noel Choir
24 and 25 Dec. Niza Choir (a small children's group singing Christmas songs in Japanese)

I tried to get a bunch of Christmas events up at
http://www.jp.from-hanna.com/daily/raising_kids/tokyowithkids/kids2.html
but I must admit that a surprising number of places had not yet finalized their plans for the season by deadline.

Dear Ms. Kurz,

I finally got the answer from Kichijoji Isetan and am sorry to advise you that the information you received is not accurate as the Santa Claus event at Kichijoji does not exist. Like the main store, the kichijoji store had it last year but they decided not to carry on that event this year unfortunately.

Following your request here are the list of Isetan Stores in Tokyo area, besides the main store in Shinjuku:

Tachikawa Isetan : 042-525-1111
Kichijoji Isetan: 0422-21-1111
Matsudo Isetan : 047-363-1111
Urawa Isetan: 048-834-1111
Sagamihara Isetan: 042-740-1111
Fuchu Isetan: 042-334-1111

For your information, for Christmas this year, the Chrismas tree illumination is the only event that Kichijoji Store holds on the 3rd floor of its annex building.

Regards, Leonard Tjhia

****************************************
I CLUB -- Foreign Customer Service
3-14-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0022
Tel: 03-3225-2514 Fax: 03-3225-2513
http://www.isetan.co.jp/iclub

FINALLY -- A REAL LIVE SANTA in an accessible place (sort of)

I finally tracked this down!

An old friend (from Texas) is going to be the Santa from 10:30 - 16:30 on 12/23 at the Vivre department store in Shin-Yurigaoka. I think the phone number there is 044-951-5501. Santa definitely speaks English. There were three 1-hour photo sessions on the first floor just outside the main entrance last year, 10:30-11:30, 13:30-14:30, & 15:30-16:30, so the schedule might be similar this year, but best to place a call and check.

Dear Leonard at Isetan Department store in Shinjuku just sent this to me:
---------------------------
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 19:32:07 +0900
Dear Ms. Kurz,

I have just received a new information regarding Santa Claus, and hope this e-mail could help with your writing.

Due to the high demand of the Santa Claus event from customers, Isetan has decided to have the following events revived this year:

On December 14th and 15th, there will be a special corner for photograph taking with Santa on the 6th floor of the main building. It will cost 300 Yen per photo with poloroid. There will be three sessions per day: from 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00. Each session is for 40 applicants only.

This event will be moved to the seventh floor on the 21st and 22nd of December.

From 21st to 23rd of December at the opening hour (10:00 AM), we would have a Santa Claus to stand in front of the main entrance to greet customers coming in.

Related to this event, we will have JACKSON 5 "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" song aired in the store starting from 19th to 25th of December.

Regards,
---------------------------

Maybe a few phone calls to the Kichijoji store will produce a similar result?

At Ueno Matsuzakaya, children would be allowed to shake hands and have pictures with Santa on 24 Dec, 10-18.00

Well...it is that time of year again...Does anyone have any information on where we can go to have pictures taken with Santa Clause? Thanks, Cali

We live in Yokohama and used to go see the real Finnish Santa at the top floor of Landmark Tower. We were free to bring our cameras and get in the long queue to have our picture taken by a very un-christmas-ly upset staff, but the kids loved it. I'm not sure if they still do that, but I did a quick check and it seems that they have a "Santa Claus no ie" at the 4th floor of Landmark Plaza Nov29-Dec25 where they would charge you for a (I guess a professional) photo.
http://www.landmark-plaza.com/special/land_xmas.html

On a related note, we once wrote a bilingual letter addressed to "Santa Clause, Finland" and got a response in Japanese! We brought the letter when we met the Finnish Santa, and I think he autographed it for us.

The Finnish Santa also comes to Finland No Mori in Nasu, Tochigi Pref.

For those who are in or visiting Northern Kanto!

"100 Christmas Trees" in Tsukuba. For a list of events during this event, please click:
http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/topics/index.php

...and for additional information:
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~tug/
http://www.rurubu.com/entame/02winter/album/index.asp?
area=4&TYPE=31050100101

Oh, and here's a list of Christmas events (light ups) in Japan:
http://www.eventnavi.ne.jp/feature/xmas/lists.phtml?
p_x0401=0&kywrd=%A5%A4%A5%EB%A5%DF%A5%
CD%A1%BC%A5%B7%A5%E7%A5%F3

Christmas Carol Sunday! Jesus LifeHouse International Church Tokyo! Sunday 19th December, 2.30pm. Christmas Carols, modern worship, exciting message. Completely Bilingual. Bilingual Children's Christmas Program too! Located at Akasaka. Jesus LifeHouse is an exciting, friendly international church that meets every Sunday at 2.30pm. See www.jesuslifehouse.com for map and directions.

OK. something is wrong with the software. Really sorry for the multiple posts.
_______________________________
Gingerbread houses - German style (originally posted 28 October 2000 - reposted today to include map which mysteriously disappeared)

I just happened to walk by a small bakery on a side street in Akasaka (not far from the American Embassy living compound) and, to my surprise, saw piles and piles of gingerbread houses! Keiji-san is busy making them already because he needs about 500 every year.

They are selling for about 8000 yen and have electric lighting inside. Wow! Not to mention a few other things available like whole grain breads. He will also ship them. He speaks German fairly well.

K-B Keiji
6-3-12 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-3582-6312

LunaLuna childcare room (Sangubashi) is hosting 2 Christmas parties in early December, if you are interested in finding out more information please check their webpage here
http://www.lunaluna.jp/english/
e_event/e_christmas%20party/e_christmas%20party.html

Following the huge success of our sold-out Halloween party with over 200 kids, Blue Sky will host 5 Christmas parties on December 19th 2005 in Setagaya-ku. Each party will be limited to 40 children so get your tickets fast! For details, please see http://www.blueskytokyo.com/calendar.html

"Singing Christmas Tree" concerts (These are free, but you have to get tickets since space is limited)
http://www.tokyobaptist.org
Friday, Dec 2 (8:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 3 (4:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 3 (7:00pm)
Sunday, Dec 4 (3:30pm)
Sunday, Dec 4 (6:00pm)
Friday, Dec 9 (8:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 10 (4:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 10 (7:00pm)
Sunday, Dec 11 (3:30pm)
Sunday, Dec 11 (6:00pm)

Update on Tokyo Baptist Church
"Singing Christmas Tree" concerts (These are free, but you have to get tickets since space is limited)
http://www.tokyobaptist.org
MOST TICKETS GONE FOR AFTERNOON SHOWS. ONLY EVE. TIME AVAILABLE

Friday, Dec 2 (8:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 3 (4:00pm) NO TICKETS AVAILABLE
Saturday, Dec 3 (7:00pm)
Sunday, Dec 4 (3:30pm) NO TICKETS AVAILABLE
Sunday, Dec 4 (6:00pm)
Friday, Dec 9 (8:00pm)
Saturday, Dec 10 (4:00pm) NO TICKETS AVAILABLE
Saturday, Dec 10 (7:00pm)
Sunday, Dec 11 (3:30pm) NO TICKETS AVAILABLE
Sunday, Dec 11 (6:00pm)

Family Carol Concert at Tokyo Union Church (Omotesando) by the British Embassy Choir: Saturday 3rd December, 5pm.

I went to this one last year, and it featured lots of familiar Christmas carols (some to join in, some just to listen to), as well as a reading of The Night Before Christmas. Lots of children, so no-one was bothered by wriggly two-year-olds or crying babies. It's free entry, so gets quite crowded, and they take a collection for charity.

The choir is also doing a couple of other Christmas concerts, but they are not specially aimed at children.

For more details, see the choir's website:
http://www.bec.ac/

From today's Yomiuri newspaper:

SWEA Japan, the Japanese chapter of the Swedish Women's Association, will hold its annual Christmas Bazaar at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo on December 4th form 11am to 3pm.

During the event, Lucia performances also will be held every hour on the hour from noon to 2pm.

For more information, call (090) 1854 2140 or email sweajapan@hotmail.com.


(I think the German church in Gotanda also holds a Christmas market around this time of year - first Saturday of December? - but I don't know about this year. Does anyone have any details?)

Hi Bethan -
The German Christmas bazaar was last weekend.
Cheers, Melissa

Isetan Department Store (Shinjuku, Tokyo) - Children's Christmas Party
December 2 (Sunday) from 14:30 to 16:00
I-Club has 10 places reserved (ages 5-12). If you are not an I-Club member, it's easy and free to become one.

The deadline is November 20 to pay for the ticket (Y2100 per child). The party includes cake, snacks and presents. And entertainment by the children story book character: Penelope (a koala bear born in France) with "special variety show and concert". I Club phone number is 03-3225-2514 (at this phone number they speak English). Make a reservation before they fill up.

P.S. Parents need not attend. 1.5 hours of freedom! The I-club staff will watch over the kid(s).

This year's German Christmas Bazaar is on December 1 starting at 13:00.
http://www.kreuzkirche-tokyo.jp/
http://www.kreuzkirche-tokyo.jp/basar.html
Kita Shinagawa 6-5-26
141-0001 Tokyo Japan
Telefon und Fax: (03) 3441-0673
Map from JR Gotanda station:
http://www.kreuzkirche-tokyo.jp/finden.html

The Bazaar is always held on the first Advent before Christmas.

British Embassy Choir http://www.bec.ac/
has 3 winter concerts. Dec 1, Dec 9 and, finally, the third one on December 15 is the Family Christmas Concert (at Tokyo Union Church)
See their web site for details on locations and times at: http://www.bec.ac/concert.html

YOKOHAMA: Annual Christmas Bazaar
Where : Saint Maur International School
When : Sunday 18th November 2007
Time : 10:00 to 16:00
Free Admission, Rain or Shine !
Come to enjoy home made cakes, games for children, various vendors. Directions available at:
http://www.stmaur.ac.jp/community/christmas.html

Ordering Christmas Baking via Internet: from Germany I ordered a lovely package of various Lebkuchen plus even a small Stollen using this web site:
www.lebkuchen-schmidt.com (bi-lingual)
It's not a fully functioning on-line shop, but with a little patience... These baked goods are the real thing!

My combination gift box arrived yesterday (very quickly). I wanted it in time for the first advent.

The rest of the information on this company:
Lebkuchen Schmidt GmbH&Co.KG
Nuernberger Lebkuchen, Gebaeck und andere feine Spezialitaeten
Zollhausstrasse 30, 90469 Nuernberg
tel: 49 - 911/8966-0, fax: 0911/8966-222
e: info[at] lebkuchen-schmidt.com

I think you might even be able to order by telephone if you get the catalog first. They use all natural ingredients.

Tokyo: Toyocho YMCA Annual Christmas Bazaar and Open House
2007 December 22 from 10:00-16:00 (Koto-ku)
Cheap food, crafts, flea market, new stuff market, games, entertainment.
Donated clothing, games, etc. accepted. Please call for details regarding drop-off.
http://tokyo.ymca.or.jp