December 23, 2004 - Santa Claus

The Miyazaki family. My dressing room. Santa! Ken's daughter and granddaughter.

Today is the first day of my Christmas break. I wasted most of my day mindlessly surfing the internet. All was not lost however, late in the day I found the motivation to make some "business" cards for Diana and I. The grave importance surrounding the possession and exchanging business cards in Japan is matchless, although the fact that we have survived for almost three months without them supports my belief that the business card culture is in decline. Nonetheless, a few too many embarrassing one sided exchanges, and the fact that we were going to a fancy dinner with some new friends finally got the better of me. I borrowed some skills learned in my former life as a graphic designer and crafted Diana and I some business cards to take to dinner with us. Dinner was a Japanese Lions Club Christmas party. My host mother was responsible for our attendance. A friend of a friend of hers wanted an English speaking Santa Claus to hand out gifts to the small children and she volunteered me for the job. Apparently the fact that I am skinny as a rail and a tad rough around the edges did not disqualify me from the position. I'm sure that far better candidates could have been harvested from within the club, but apparently the desire to have a native English speaker trumped all would be Saint Nicks. The friend of a friend was Ken Miyazaki and his wife Akiko. We met with them about two weeks ago to fit the Santa costume. After the fitting they took us to a Teppanyaki dinner near Rokkomichi station. It was my first run in with internationally famed Kobe Beef, a very tender and fatty steak from ludicrously coddled cattle. Last night we met Ken, Akiko, their daughter and granddaughter at the Kobe Bay Sheraton Hotel on Rokko Island for the party. Diana and I hadn't visited Rokko Island yet. It is a manmade island in Osaka Bay noted as the base for Proctor and Gamble Japan, and the home of many business executives from foreign countries. There is a rumor circulating amongst the international students that you can order in English at most of the restaurants on Rokko Island. The party started splendidly, a talented Japanese piano singer warmed the crowd up with some heart felt Christmas tunes sung in convincing English (have you seen Lost in Translation yet?). After the singing, dinner was served and Diana and I slipped out to put on the Santa outfit - in my own personal dressing room. I was all dressed up and standing in the lobby outside the door and pretty calm until about 1 minute before I was to enter, at which point I became quite nervous. Santa was announced and I burst into the hall with bags of gifts calling out "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!" The kids were rounded up, some against their wishes, and herded onto stage. In the following ten minutes I proceeded to butcher their names as I pulled gifts, one by one, out of the bags for them. What a haul they made. A few more "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmases!" and I had completed my debut performance as Santa. In retrospect I'm thinking my performance was mediocre at best... I should have made the kids work a little harder for the gifts, I let them off the hook without enough sacrifice. At least I'll have some experience to draw on for the next time I'm Santa. After getting out of the Santa outfit, Diana and I sat down for Dinner with the Miyazaki family. They had set aside some dishes for us and we enjoyed a wonderful meal with them. Following dinner we played a few rounds of bingo and won a couple of fresh fruit baskets. This may not sound like much, but pound for pound fresh fruit is worth more than gold in Japan, so we felt quite lucky.

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