All about our Christmas-in-Japan experience, with talk of our
Christmas-in-the-US past.

Transcript

K: So, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Christmas and, specifically,
our family’s relationship with Christmas. And also my evolution into how
American I am versus how Japanese I am.

C: So you’re not thinking about my evolution from Chad into Santa Claus?

K: (laughs) Which has surprisingly halted. How grey your beard is, I feel
like it hasn’t become more grey this – in like 2019 at all.

C: Oh you are so on the naughty list.

K: It’s just real talk babe.

C: You’re getting coal. 

K: Real talk

C: Keep talking, you’ll get more coal. 

K: Real talk, babe.

C: (laughs)

K: You’ve got these really sturdy, staunch patches of – it’s either blond or
red, depending on the season, because you have a seasonal beard.

C: I do. ‘tis the season for what color of beard? I don’t know.

K: (laughs) Red. It gets red in the winter, blond in the summer.

C: It does get red in the winter.

K: It’s not that hard, babe. It’s really not.

C: It gets red in the winter for Christmas.

K: And how would that be more Santa-like?

C: Well, if I put green in it, then it’d be red and green.

K: What are you saying right now?

C: I’m saying in Japan, you know it’s Christmas because things are red and
green.

K: What are you talking about? 

C: I am talking about the way that Japan celebrates Christmas.

K: Japan does not celebrate Christmas.

C: Exactly. But things

K: Well no that’s not true. That’s not true. I just told a big, fat lie.
Japan, trip on this.. KFC is Christmas dinner.

C: Yes.

K: Kentucky Fried Chicken is Christmas dinner in Japan. I think I’ve talked
about this before, I’m not sure. But like months in advance, you have to order
your KFC Christmas dinner. 

C: Yes.

K: And that’s like the thing they do on the 25th is they eat Kentucky Fried
Chicken. Like how does that become a thing, Japan? That’s what I want to know.
What’s going on with that, Japan?

C: And go to work. I forget if Christmas is on a holiday this year.

K: No. Because they changed emperors, and so the previous emp- in the Heisei
era, the 25th was sometimes a holiday for some companies because it was the
emperor’s birthday.

C: The 23rd was always a holiday.

K: Was the emperor’s birthday the 23rd?

C: Yeah. 

K: I thought it was the 25th.

C: Nope. Because when I was managing people, I had somebody ask me – and I
think I’ve said this story before, so we might be performing a Christmas
miracle and bringing back old stories.

K: (laughs) Which is not miraculous for us at all.

(laughter)

C: They asked if they could have Christmas off. It was August, and they
asked if they could have Christmas off or if it was too late, and everybody
else in the company had already requested it. I was like no, 

K: Nobody requested it at all.

C: Everybody’s expecting to work Christmas. Have it off.

K: And I work Christmas almost every year unless it falls on a Sunday or
Monday, and then I don’t work. And I take the first week of in January.

C: Everybody takes the first week of in January, just about.

K: Right, but all of my foreign clients are really tripped out by the fact
that I’m open on Christmas. And it’s like… this is how the conversation feels
because it’s like “Are… you… going to be working… on t he 25th?” and I said
“yes, I am, but I don’t expect anybody to come and see me who celebrates
Christmas,” and then some people are like “no, I really want to see you before
we do Christmas with the family” and I’m like crack on.