The Lobster Dance

While Kanazawa (and most of Hokuriku) got its annual white Christmas, I got a set of Seishun 18 Tickets (青春１８きっぷ) and my husband and I made the trek down to notably sunnier and warmer Kansai for the long weekend.*

Why Osaka at Christmas? For the German Christmas Market, which proved to not only be an entertaining night out but also a sociological experience!

The 2011 Osaka German Christmas Market (ドイツ･クリスマスマーケット大阪2011) was held at the Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル), Osaka’s 12th-tallest building, which apparently has a garden in the top floors that connects the two towers. I still haven’t been to the top (¥700), but the building, which is about a 10-minute walk from Osaka and Umeda Stations, is quite striking. Fortunately, the market has free admission, so anyone can come and go freely.

The fair, held daily from 12:00 to 21:00/22:00 between 18 Nov. and 25 Dec., 2011, was a delightfully confectionery combination of illumination, retail, and food.

The site was packed–we were elbow-to-elbow with other fair-goers, shuffled from stand to stand, and stood in lengthy (but efficient) lines for food. Most of the booth attendants, who included a large number of (presumably) Germans, spoke Japanese and English. The shops sold Christmas ornaments, nutcrackers, crafts, and, of course, all manner of food and spirits.

The food was, of course, the real reason we were there. Although it was rather pricey, it was very satisfying to be able to eat a real pretzel and have a decent beer.* The beer was either Bitburger or Köstritzer (I didn’t take a picture!), but despite its light color, the beer had a full flavor. Cold beer isn’t exactly the ideal drink for a December night outdoors, but how many opportunities does a beer-lover have to get proper beer on draft in Japan? As for the other food, there was gingerbread, roasted nuts, mulled wine and hot cocoa in mugs, and imported bottled wine for sale–the cheapest was ¥1300; the average price was ¥3000.

The Japanese customers were ordering hot cocoa and sausages right and left, but no one was as enthused about the pretzels as I was. I used the mustard from the brat to dip the pretzel as well. Pretzels are definitely on my 2012 I’ll Make It Myself list now!

The Market treads a fine line between kitsch and Winter Wunderland–a sort of Christmas-themed ヨーロッパの憧れ (longing for Europe) with gingerbread houses with windows to let the fair-goer see the (European) people inside crafting cookies and sweets.

What does this mean from a sociological perspective? Is it a place for people who want to celebrate a foreign holiday with some traditional elements reconfigured to all be included and consumed in a convenient place? Does it feel more “real” to participants, as if the adoption and evolution of Christmas celebrations in Japan were not just different but somehow less valid?

On one hand, the German Christmas Market feels like Disneyland, like simulacra–a essentialized (and sanitized) “Germany” like that of EPCOT, centered around consumption of cultural markers (imported crafts, foods) and ultimately just made of sparkly distractions and concrete.

On the other hand, I didn’t feel like this version of Christmas was more valid than the Christmas Japan celebrates. I simply wanted to eat pretzels and beer, and the Market promised to provide a space for me to do that while enjoying a Christmas-themed light-up.

Another point to consider, related to the essentialization of Germany at this event, is that this sort of cultural-consumer event can act as a base of contact with another culture. For example, the University of Michigan holds an annual mochitsuki event for New Year where participants can pound and eat mochi; try calligraphy and origami; enjoy Japanese beverages and foods; play games; and listen to musical performances. The event is hosted to provide the community with a chance to experience Japanese culture with a focus on New Year’s celebrations. What separates Mochitsuki from the Market is lack of consumerist intent in the former. Entrance is free, as are all foods and activities, as the Center for Japanese Studies is an non-profit providing educational/community outreach. The German Christmas Market does not exist to educate people about German Christmas traditions as much as it does to sell those traditions in the form of food and goods.

There’s nothing inherently wrong in this–after all, some of us just want to buy a damn pretzel–but where outreach events provide a chance for cultural dialogue with participants and volunteers, the Market and EPCOT Germany exist to sell a hyperreal version of the culture, not to provide cultural exchange–hence the Market being called a market. While I don’t think the Market has the pretense of reality, that is, the promise that this is An Authentic Germany, it does promise an Authentic German Market:

The German Christmas Market is one of the noted Christmas events in the world, indispensable for the German folk to survive a long, cold winter. A market just like the real thing decorates Shin Umeda City (Umeda Sky Building).

Open with 24 hüttes (huts) imported from Germany, let alone one of the world’s tallest Christmas Trees. Feel the air of Germany in this heartwarming event in the cold.***

According to the marketing, the Market is authentic as a market. As I’ve never traveled to Germany, I couldn’t say if this is accurate or “authentic” for a German market or a German Christmastime market. Still, I can’t help but feel that I visited a representation of a “Germany” in which everyone lived in a sort of post-witch Hansel-and-Gretel world: a surreal fairytale Germany that was filled with Christmas magic and gingerbread houses for all.

And pretzels for me.

Osaka German Christmas Market official websites: Japanese; English

More “Let’s Merry!”
Introduction
Food/Drink: Cookie Tea
Music: “Little Taiko Boy”
Food/Drink: Mochi Rice
Culture: Decorating
Food/Drink: Starbucks Japan vs. Starbucks US
Around Town: Lights
Culture: Mameshiba Christmas

Notes

* The Seishun 18 tickets cost about ¥1.2 man (¥115,000) and limit the rider to 5 days on the local lines–no express trains or shinkansen. Because you can share the tickets if you enter the gates together, we used 4 of our “days” traveling Kanazawa – Tsuruga – Maibara- Kyoto – Osaka and back. The first day more than paid for our tickets (~¥5000 on non-expresses, ~¥7200 on express trains one-way per person). These tickets are available a few times a year during major holiday seasons–check the links above for details in English or Japanese.

**Pretzel: ¥300. Small beer: ¥500. Sausage and roll: ¥600. Mulled wine: ¥700 (includes small mug). Hot cocoa: ¥900 (includes large mug). We passed on the drinks in mugs because we had already spent so much on so-worth-it sausages, beers, and pretzels.

*** “A genuine German market finally making an appearance in Osaka! German Christmas Market Osaka 2011.” Osaka Supporter. http://www.osaka-info.jp/supporter/en/topics/season/season-111125.html. Accessed 2 Jan. 2012. This appears to be a direct translation of the description on the Umeda Sky Building website:

本場ドイツのマーケットが丸ごとやってくる

会場にはドイツを代表する工芸品や温かいグリューワイン、香り豊かな焼きソーセージなどの飲食物を販売するヒュッテ（小屋）が約２４棟軒を連ね、そ の多くのヒュッテにはドイツ人が自ら店に立ちコミュニケーション豊かに接客してくれます。 会場に設置されるヒュッテ（小屋）はドイツ各地のクリスマスマーケットで使用されるものと同じものをドイツから輸送したもので、ヒュッテに装飾されるガー ランド（人工植物の装飾品）やイルミネーション（電飾）など細部にわたり全てドイツ人のディレクターによりドイツ風に監修されています。特徴のある装飾は もとより、ヒュッテ内の什器類も全てドイツ製が使われていて、コンパクトにまとめられた器具類からもドイツならではの合理的な国民性が垣間見られます。 このようにドイツ・クリスマスマーケット大阪は、ドイツとまったく同じ様式で開催されるものです。

「 ドイツクリスマスマーケット大阪２０１１」. ウメポタ. http://www.skybldg.co.jp/event/xmarkt/2011/fascination.html. Accessed 2 Jan. 2012.