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Christmas in Japan is a strange thing. Christmas, as An Englishman in Osaka reminded me, is only for children anyway. And although I left the grey December skies of England for the mild winters of Osaka, it doesn’t feel like Christmas.

It was only until the last week of teaching that I started to get into the Christmas spirit. Instead of teaching the kids, we made snowmen, Christmas trees and stars to Christmas carols on the CD player and it was a lot of fun. In my last lesson another teacher dressed up as Santa and we spent the afternoon creeping up behind children and shouting, “Ho ho ho”, in their ears.

Christmas Day itself is strange here too. Being paegan heathens, only joking, none of them take the day off. This year I had to go to the doctors on Christmas Day and I helped tidy the front room up - a Japanese tradition in preparation for the New Year.

And Christmas Dinner. Last year I ate sushi, this year we had Indian curry with a roast chicken. We’ve recently discovered Costco where Reiko found a Christmas pudding. Although too sweet for the natives I was unable to stop the orgasmic groaning from my mouth.

And Isabelle. Christmas marks her six month anniversary. All immediate members of the family gave Isabelle beautiful clothes and toys including this hoodie from Reiko’s mother.