Ways to get your Christmas food fix in Japan

What kinds of Christmas food traditions do you have from back home? For myself growing up, we typically had lunch with one side of the family, and dinner with the other side - it was a full day of food. Lunch was usually a traditional turkey meal with roast veggies and Christmas pudding, but dinner was more of a casual Aussie affair, with cold meats, salads, and lighter desserts like pavlova and trifle. Needless to say, a lot of my festive season memories from my youth are centered around what I ate!

I think that's the case for many people out there, and it's not always easy to find tastes of home for the holidays. These are some of my suggestions for ways to find Christmas foods (or fun alternatives) here in Japan.

Hotel Christmas Buffets

If you're looking for the full Christmas shebang, a lot of larger hotel chains offer Christmas buffets that come complete with all the trimmings. Some examples for this year include:

• The Strings Hotel Tokyo Intercontinental’s Christmas Lunch Buffet: includes a weekend-only carving station with a variety of roast meats, plus a regular daily menu packed with both sweet and savory dishes;

• The Lotte City Hotel Kinshicho: An all-you-can-eat Christmas buffet with roast chicken, beef steak, and more;

• The Hilton Tokyo's King and Queen's Christmas Buffet: a luxurious affair that includes roast turkey, roast chicken, oysters, crab, various cheeses, Christmas sweets, and more.

The lunch buffet at The Strings Hotel Tokyo Intercontinental is filled with sweet and savory dishes, plus a carving station on weekends during the event. Pic Credit: PR Times

Christmas-themed afternoon tea events

If you don’t want a full meal but would like a dining experience that feels festive, there’s also the option of Christmas-themed afternoon tea events. Again, a lot of larger hotel chains offer these, and they’re usually dessert-focused with some savory dishes thrown in for good measure. Some 2021 Christmas options include a British-themed Christmas Afternoon Tea at the Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel, and The Strings by InterContinental Tokyo's Christmas Afternoon Tea which is packed with aesthetically pleasing desserts incorporating Christmas motifs.

The Christmas-themed event at the Shin Yokohama Prince Hotel is beautifully presented! Pic Credit: PR Times

DIY Christmas cooking at home

If you have an oven that can accommodate a turkey or roast beef, a lot of my expat friends swear by The Meat Guy. The business offers a range of Christmas meats and even side dishes that you can cook at home, and some are pre-cooked so all you have to do is warm them up. There’s no physical store for the business - everything is shipped from their Nagoya premises, but that makes it easy to order what you want from the comfort of your own home. Their full Christmas menu line-up can be found here.

Nagoya-based  business The Meat Guy offers a range of traditional Christmas meats and side dishes -- it's a great option if you've got the ability to cook a big meal at home. Pic Credit: PR Times