Shopping is huge here in Japan. Shopping malls extend endlessly irradiating from the subway stations.
Consider as an example the Kinokuniya chain of bookshops. They have two shops in Shinjuku, one of the busiest districts in Tokyo. One of these has 7 floors. The seventh floor - for international books - is as big as the Feltrinelli shop in Piazza Argentina (the biggest in Rome).
Department stores love to have that chic Western touch. At Tokyo Hands Christmas season has begun; outside you can find the familiar Christmas memes:
Maybe they confused the moon with the comet star?
The weirdest thing is a 4 meters high reproduction of a church, with crosses and everything:
Young couples don't miss the occasion for taking a photo, maybe dreaming of their future western-style wedding.
Of course, don't forget to buy the traditional Christmas dress, for all family members!
Anyway, I guess that the Japanese have a better knowledge of Catholicism than most people back in Italy have of Shintoism and Buddhism.
Take a look at this account of a surreal encounter between a western Buddhist, two Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses and two Hare Krishnas.
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