Santa Claus IS coming to town!

A few weeks ago I was perusing the daily news when the headline "Santa is visiting..." grabbed my eye. I immediately clicked on the article and, much to my excitement, it was an announcement of a public Santa Claus visit. But as much as I was excited, I was / am equally bewildered and, quite honestly, concerned for Santa's well being! 

I had just assumed that Santa Claus would be trying to avoid catching the Coronavirus this season. I thought he might make some appearances from a distance, but I didn't expect that he'd be meeting the masses. Maybe some of his Christmas magic protects him from the virus, I highly doubt it however. Also its worth noting that the news broke just as the numbers were beginning to rise. He may have a change of heart between this and then, now that the daily figures of Covid-19 cases are spiraling out of control.

Santa Meet and Greets 2020

The initial article I read was about multiple Santa meet and greets in Hamley's Toy Store in both their Yokohama and Fukuoka branches. Afterwards I searched to see if he is making an appearance elsewhere and he is in quite a few places. For example, LaQua in Tokyo Dome City currently have Santa Claus scheduled for a visit a few times in December. And Santa is making his usual dive into the Sunshine City Aquarium. However, this year he'll only be coming a few times during Christmas week.

On the flip side, there are quite a few places that he usually visits that he won't be able to this year. For example, St Clair in Ochanomizu. They have officially confirmed that Santa Claus will not be visiting St Clair this year. He is also not visiting Ikspiari in Chiba, another popular spot for a Santa photo in a "usual" year. Then there are many places that have not yet said whether Santa will be visiting or not. But, at this moment in time there are a few places where Santa IS coming to town, despite the Coronavirus!