Move over North America and Europe: You’ll find plenty of festive fun and decorations in places you never imagined would be tinsel towns. Dubai, UAE Christmas descends on Dubai Mall and its more than 1200 shops. Credit: iStock Improbable as it might seem, Dubai goes mad for Christmas – though, not surprisingly, a very commercial version of it that coincides with the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival.
Festival City Mall has a Santa’s grotto, and all the malls are sumptuously decorated, sporting forests of Christmas trees. Some resort-hotels such as Al Habtoor and Madinat Jumeirah have traditional-style Christmas markets. Expo City Dubai is turned into a vast Winter City with another market, fairground and Christmas events.
See visitdubai.com Tokyo, Japan Christmas illuminations at Shinjuku Southern Terrace. Credit: Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau As if there isn’t enough neon happening in Tokyo, Christmas lights add to the glow and are often animated or accompanied by music.
The best might be in Marunouchi, Akihabara, Keyakizaka Street and outside Tokyo Midtown shopping mall. Wonderful shop window displays are Christmas-themed. Meiji Shrine might be dedicated to Shintoism, but it hosts a German-style Christmas market.
The only disappointment? Japan’s idea of Christmas dinner: a KFC meal followed by strawberry cake. See gotokyo.org San Jose, Costa Rica Many overseas Christmases are secular, but in Catholic Costa Rica midnight Mass is a key event, and Jesus, not Sa.
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