Japan: End of Year Trivia

Christmas is a different time here in Japan. They see it as purely a commercial occasion, free of those perky religious overtones. Santa-san delivers presents and the kids are happy. Christmas Day is not a public holiday, but the Emporor's Birthday is, and it's on the 23rd. Close enough. I gave some presents to the adults in the house as I figured (correctly) that Mr Claus would forget about them.

Had to send a visa application off a few weeks ago. The main Japan Post office in Kobe is open 24 hours (which is awesome), but for some strange reason, they don't sell things that you would expect a post office to have, like envelopes. Had to go to 7-11 for them, but that wasn't a problem since 24-hour convenience stores are everywhere.