Christmas in the Office

Christmas may not be an official holiday in Japan, but folks around here do get into the spirit.  Check out the Christmas tree that was in the lobby of our office building:

Missing my iPhone. This was taken by a Blackberry.

I saw trees like this one at the swanky apartment building near the station.  The ANA Intercontinental had a "tree" made of poinsettias that was really cool.  Tokyo Midtown had a "tree" made of ornaments strung on transparent cord.  But I ended up with only one picture.  The American in me assumed that once the crazy push at the office subsided, I would have time to walk around and enjoy the decorations. Leave it to the Japanese to have all the trees taken down by the time I left the office on Christmas Day (11:30pm, for those keeping track)!

The good news is that the firm kept me so busy, I didn't have time to feel lonely or homesick on Christmas.  The bad news is that I worked through the night on my birthday (except that one hour nap... on the floor), did the same on Christmas Eve (which is a day off here--its the Emperor's birthday), and worked a full day on Christmas.

Second year in a row working past midnight on my birthday.
Second year in a row working on Christmas.

Not the end of the world given that I'm out here by myself, but I can't imagine what it feels like to find yourself doing the same with a spouse and kids at home.  And even for someone who doesn't have a spouse or child, I think working two Christmases in a row is enough.  Next year, it's my turn to have the day off.