Christians make up only a very small part (less than two percent) of the population of Japan, so people are not very familiar with the religious roots of the holiday. Nevertheless, the Japanese have an amazing ability to import elements from other cultures and integrate them with their own culture. For example, Buddhism, the parliamentary form of government, large corporations, and the current educational system all originally came from abroad. These things are so successful in today's Japan precisely because they are no longer exactly the L same as they were. Like Christmas, the Japanese made them uniquely their own.