Every year in November, bakery chains, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, department stores, and many other businesses in Japan announce their upcoming cake line-ups, and they sell out some of the more popular cakes far in advance of Christmas.
Even fast-food chains join the craze with their own cakes; KFC had a triple-berry tiramisu this year.
Christmas cakes in Japan are different than the typical cakes in Western countries. The most famous Christmas cake in Japan is a strawberry shortcake consisting of a genoise sponge layer, cream or whipped cream layer, and ripe strawberries.
Christmas has been promoted as a stylish and romantic holiday in Japan for many years, and this cake, as well as other similar ones, celebrate that.
People in Japan celebrate Christmas but not religiously, nor is it a national holiday. Most businesses work on Christmas and public transits work by regular schedule. There are only around 1.9 million Christians living in Japan, according to 2017 statistics published by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs, and the country is largely secular.
