The Finnish Santa Claus
Now that Halloween has passed the next big event to look forward to is Christmas. As usual, I expect Finland to dispatch a goodwill Santa to Japanto promote Lapland, which boasts many Santa Claus accoutrements - reindeer, sleigh rides, jingle bells, etc. And, I expect the newspapers here to lap it up. But it’s a shame, really, because it is so wrong. Everyone knows that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, which is in Canada, not in Lapland, which is in Finland. But thanks to the publicity surrounding the annual false Finnish Santa, too few Japanese know the truth. Most Japanese I speak to on the matter are convinced that Santa comes from Lapland.
I am not a Scrooge, and I am not a humbug. I am not looking for coal in my stocking. I’m looking every year for Santa from the true Great White North. I know he’s there because he answers my letters.