Dear Haole Club,
I am writing to you from my home in northern Japan, where it is cold and everything is white with snow.
As we know, in a traditional anglo-saxon family, Christmas is the biggest day of the year and it is a time for being generous to each other. Hopefully that generosity lives on throughout the year. In Japan, it is a little different, however there is a custom to give decorated envelopes containing generous sums of money on New Year’s day.
So, when my parents sent us loads of presents for our 2 year old daughter, their granddaughter, I was most impressed and pleased. However, as for my wife’s parents, who are better off financially than my own parents, our daughter received absolutely nothing. I can understand that Christmas may not be their custom or tradition, but giving money for New Year’s is, so I most surprised that my parents-in-law could not be generous!
Two days after New Year’s we were at a friend’s house for lunch yesterday, and one of the wife’s friends came to visit, they had not seen each other for 10 years. However, the wife’s friend gave the daughter 2000yen in a decorated envelope. So, this made me think again about my parents-in-law and their view of grandparenthood.
It may be that they, my in-laws have heard my grandfather’s story about the guy in the army during WW2, who claimed to be Jewish on Sundays, Catholic on Saturdays, and whatever else during the week in order to avoid church parade. However, in their case it is to avoid giving any presents.
Has anyone else had similar experiences?
Cheers and happy New Year.
Tony Kennedy
