Every Christmas, Seiji Makino used to dread facing up to his three children whose questions about Santa Claus would leave him tongue-tied.
But this year Makino and other Japanese who want to be able to bellow out a perfect ”Ho, ho, ho” are getting help in the form of professional training by the country’s only ”certified” Santa Claus.
”I saw in a kids’ magazine that cookies and a cup of hot chocolate were placed under the Christmas tree but I didn’t know why,” said Makino (38).
Now Makino knows the answer: because kids welcome Santa with a snack for his delivering the presents.
His learning process required him to dress up in a red and white costume and stocking cap and to put on a white beard as he joined 40 other people — mostly Father Christmases but also a few Mother Christmases — in two hours of nuts and bolts training in the ways of Santa.
In a country famed for its perfectionist work ethic, the Santa students have a teacher with top credentials: Paradise Yamamoto, the only Japanese with a degree from the International Association of Authorised Santa Clauses based in Greenland.
Plump with rosy cheeks, Yamamoto is better known as one of Japan’s top mambo musicians, but became authorised as Santa Claus after passing a competitive test in Greenland.
A Scandinavian travel group was looking to train a Japanese Santa and turned to Yamamoto on the recommendation of people in the television industry.
Yamamoto was given an audition in which he successfully climbed down a chimney, let out a merry ”Ho, ho, ho” and ran 50m in full Santa gear. He received his degree in 1998.
As the aspiring Japanese Santas packed into a cafe in Tokyo with their furry outfits on, Yamamoto took a present under his arm and showed the Santas how to walk cheerfully bearing gifts.
The Santas were paired up and standing face-to-face said, ”Ho, ho, ho,” first with laughter and then without a smile to practice the different sides of Santa.
The students also took part in a contest to see who could eat cookies the fastest, as Santa Claus has to have a taste for sweets gifted by children as he rushes from chimney to chimney.
The winner munched six cookies and drank a glass of milk in less than a minute.
Yamamoto conferred a certificate to each candidate in front of a towering Christmas tree at the end of the seminar.
”Let’s make Christmas the warmest day of the year and make it possible for children to have good dreams,” he told them.
Although only one percent of Japan’s 127-million people are Christians, Christmas has become a widely observed event, particularly for young couples who consider the occasion a top time for a date.
With the streets of Japanese cities festooned in Christmas lights, Yamamoto said it was important for children to see the holiday as more than a time to receive expensive gifts from ”Santa Claus.”
”It’s important for children to consider how they can welcome Santa Claus. They can clean their rooms and bake cookies with their moms,” he said.
The seminar was organised by toymaking company Takara, which paid the bill and encouraged its employees to take part.
”The seminar led me to reconsider how to communicate with my children through Christmas and Santa Claus,” said Hiroyuki Kondo, a 40-year-old employee of Takara and the winner of the cookie-eating contest.
Yamamoto and the Santa Association’s future goal is to find another authorised Santa — this time a Japanese woman.
Anyone who is cheerful and loves children is welcome to apply, and there is no requirement for her to share Santa’s belt-breaking figure. – Sapa-AFP