For weeks Christmas lights have been up, carols and jingles have been playing in shops and pubs, and department stores have been decked out with Christmas trees, bells and holly. But Japan has been teasing me. Yesterday there was no Christmas! You see Japan embraces all things Christmas (in its own, sometimes odd way), apart from Christmas day itself! So I spent yesterday sat at my desk in my office passing the time with a cup of green tea (oh how I missed my martini’s) daydreaming about Christmases long gone. The roaring fire in the front room, the smell of pine needles filling the house, dad in the kitchen in his novelty apron, grandma nodding off in the corner after being plied with sherry all day (a cunning plan to get some piece and quiet!), and,
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