Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving? In Japan? In case you're wondering, no, Japan does not celebrate Thanksgiving. Why would they? It's an American holiday (yes, I'm aware that other countries have their own Thanksgiving).

My friend got a few Thanksgiving supplies shipped to her from home a while ago; things like cranberry sauce and stuffing. We had been sort of planning to have a dinner, but plans weren't finalized until the week before. At first, it was supposed to be only about 5 people, but more people kept getting pulled in until it ended up around 11 or 12 people (I can't remember). We decided to do a potluck-style dinner, so everyone brought their own dish. We all pitched in money to get the actual turkey (which my friend got from a nearby airbase) as well as the "roasting pan." It technically wasn't a roasting pan, but we couldn't find anything equivalent to one, so we just bought a cooking pan that looked like one.

My friends in another dorm volunteered to make the turkey, so the rest of us just prepared the side dishes in our own dorms. I made donut holes, using this recipe from Cooking With Dog. They were DELICIOUS. I made a test batch the day before and couldn't stop eating them whoops.

We hosted the whole Thanksgiving dinner in my dorm, since it has enough room for guests and has the longest/least strict visiting hours of the womens' dorms. We have a tatami room in our dorm that you can use to host guests, so we decided to have it there in order to avoid getting in anyone's way. My dorm mates thought it was funny we were using a Japanese-style room for an American holiday, haha.

So, without further ado, this is how you do Thanksgiving in Japan!

After the first round...look how much food is still left, haha.

I didn't really know everyone there, but by the end of the night, I would say we became friends. We even did that cheesy thing where we go around in a circle and say what we're thankful for. A couple of people played the piano that's in the tatami room. We started the dinner around 7:30 and it lasted until 10:30-11-ish, when visiting hours ended. Everyone took home some leftovers. Whatever people didn't take, we gave to our dorm mates (and saved some turkey for the cats because cats).

So, if you ever wondered if Thanksgiving was possible in Japan, it is! Apparently there are even some restaurants that serve turkey dinner, but we didn't know that beforehand and we probably wouldn't have opted for it. You do have to get creative and be willing to spend a bit of cash to make all of this happen, though.

It was a really fun night and I'm glad we all found a way to celebrate. :)