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Only about 1 percent of the Japanese population is Christian. But you might not realize that if you visited a major metropolitan area during Christmas time. Just like in America, you'll find heads topped with red Santa hats everywhere and elaborate seasonal displays: train sets, mountain scenes and snow-covered trees. Often, these are set inside of bakeries hawking one of the highlights of the holiday season in Japan: Christmas cake.

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"It's basically sold on practically every street corner," says anthropologist Michael Ashkenazi from the Bonn International Center for Conversion, who studied Japanese culture and tradition.

The dessert is a snow-white sponge cake, delicately covered with whipped cream and topped with perfectly shaped, ruby red strawberries. It's a beloved December-time treat on the island nation — and not just because it's delicious. In fact, Christmas cake is now a symbol of commercialism and prosperity, its story intertwined with Japan's rise from ruins after its defeat in World War II.

To understand why, we need to take a little historical detour.

After World War II, American soldiers led the work of rebuilding an occupied Japan. The Japanese economy was in shambles and food shortages were common. Even rarer were sugary sweets. The sweet treats from the U.S. that the Americans handed out were a memorable luxury to a people still recovering from the ravages of war.

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A man in a reindeer costume hawks Christmas cake outside a bakery in Kobe, Japan, Dec. 23, 2011. Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images

A man in a reindeer costume hawks Christmas cake outside a bakery in Kobe, Japan, Dec. 23, 2011.

Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images

"Sweet chocolates, above all, given by American soldiers epitomized the utmost wealth Japanese children saw in American lives," cultural anthropologist Hideyo Konagaya wrote in a 2001 paper on the history of the Christmas cake published in the Journal of Popular Culture. Sweets created a longing for wealth and a desire to Americanize, he says.

But it wasn't just soldiers that came to Japan. Christian missionaries also made the journey, bringing gifts and the concept of Christmas to Japanese schools and families. Missionaries had actually introduced Christianity to Japan as early as the 16th century. But Christmas didn't catch on as a popular holiday until these post-war years, when the Japanese embraced a glitzy, commercial version of the holiday that was less about religion than about prosperity, explains Konagaya.

"The Christmas celebrations gave the Japanese the most tangible pictures that could convey images of prosperous modern lives in America," Konagaya writes.

And so Japan embraced the trappings of a picture-perfect, American-style Christmas — including Santa Claus, an ornament-bedecked tree and a sugar-filled cake. As David Plath, a renowned Japan-scholar, writes in a paper on the popularity of Christmas festivities in Japan, "Family Christmas gatherings do not center around dinner, as in the American ideal, but rather upon mutual partaking of a Christmas cake."

So why cake?

Well, sponge cake had been available in Japan since the 17th century, but the items needed to make it — sugar, milk and butter — were rarities on the island nation, so the cake was a luxury reserved for the elite. After WWII, Japan's economy rebounded, the ingredients became more widely available, and Japan's newly formed middle-class adopted this once-exclusive dessert as a symbol that they had finally made it.

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Japanese Christmas cake: It's even in your smartphone, on the emoji keyboard. NPR hide caption

itoggle caption NPR

Japanese Christmas cake: It's even in your smartphone, on the emoji keyboard.

NPR

And so, inspired by America, a wholly Japanese tradition was born. "The Christmas cake became a center of attention in the whole festival [of Christmas]," writes Konagaya.

Even the cake's shape and colors are symbolic: It's red and white, echoing the Japanese flag. And traditionally it's round. "Anything that's white and round would normally be associated with shrines," says Ashkenazi.

These days, Christmas cake has become so ingrained in Japanese culture that you can even find some in your smartphone: There are two versions of the cake on the emoji keyboard. (Emoji, as the name suggests, originated in Japan.) The cakes go on discount once Dec. 25th rolls around – a fact that's given birth to an unfortunate bit of Japanese slang: "Christmas cake" is used to refer to an unmarried woman who is over 25 and thus, considered past her prime. (Sigh. We know.)

However, while the cake has become firmly entrenched in Japanese culture, Christmas itself hasn't – it's not a national holiday in Japan. In fact, it's celebrated more like Valentine's Day is in America, and it's often thought of as a day for romantic couples to share. (It's also a big day for chowing down on KFC, but that's an entirely different story.)

Says Ashkenazi: "This [cake] is part of a whole complex of things that the Japanese adopted from the West, modified to their own needs, and have completely different meaning and different implications for Japanese society than from whatever host society they borrowed it from."

We haven't tried whipping up a Christmas cake ourselves, but if you're curious, this video from a Japanese cooking show called Cooking With Dogs has a recipe. Because nothing says Christmas like a dog chef in a Santa hat.

Alison Bruzek is a former intern with NPR.

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Japan

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Marvel Comics has provided some of Hollywood's biggest box office characters ever: The Avengers, the X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Spider-Man, all starring in gargantuan special effects blockbusters.

75 Years of Marvel Comics

From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen

by Roy Thomas and Josh Baker

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And like every super hero, Marvel Comics has an origin story. It begins in New York City, in 1939.

To compete against DC Comics' new Superman character, what was then called Timely Publications began selling 10-cent magazines with the illustrated adventures of its own champs: Captain America (a superhuman soldier), the Human Torch (a test-tube created android created who would catch fire around oxygen), and the Sub-Mariner (an undersea prince who hated humans).

World War II was on, so "naturally the big enemy we would have would be Hitler," says Stan Lee, Marvel's revered writer, editor, publisher, former president and chairman. "Captain America," he says "was always beating Hitler up every chance he had."

Lee's almost 92 years old now, but he started at Marvel when he was just 17. From office boy, he quickly graduated to writing the stories. Lee was a pen name for Stanley Martin Lieber.

"I wanted to save that name for the great novel that I would never write," he muses. "In the very beginning I was embarrassed to be writing comics 'cause most people had a very low opinion of them. But it was a living." A few years later, Lee enlisted in the Army and didn't return to Timely Comics till the war ended.

At that point, the company ditched its superhero stories, says longtime Marvel writer and editor Roy Thomas, author of a colossal new book that chronicles the company's history. Thomas says the superhero stories just weren't selling well. "After you've been fighting Nazis for several years, somehow fighting a bank robber isn't as exciting," he says. "They just had run out of steam. And there were newer things that came in."

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Stan Lee — shown here in 2002 — helped create Marvel mainstays like Spider-Man and the Avengers. Reed Saxon/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Reed Saxon/AP

Stan Lee — shown here in 2002 — helped create Marvel mainstays like Spider-Man and the Avengers.

Reed Saxon/AP

Marvel began putting out mysteries, horror comics, detective stories, fictionalized crime tales, even bible stories. And romances, most of which Lee wrote. "They were suppose to be confession stories by girls," says Lee. "So I came up with what I thought was a clever idea. I wrote 'as told to Stan Lee.' So I was able to get my name on all the stories."

Timely Publications became Marvel comics, and Lee says the genres came in waves. "The publisher, Martin Goodman, would just look at the sales figures, and he'd say "oh, Western books seem to be selling better this year, let's just do a lot of westerns." It'd work like that," says Lee. "It was funny, he had a fetish for certain names; he loved the word 'kid' for the westerns. So we had Kid Colt, Outlaw; the Texas Kid, the Rawhide Kid, the something else Kid, I can't even remember all the names but there were a lot of Kids."

By then, Lee was working with a group of artists, including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. In 1961, the publisher asked them to create a superhero team to rival DC Comics' new Justice League of America. Marvel's response was the Fantastic Four: The Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl and new — actually human — Human Torch.

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In 1941, superheroes like Captain America were big business for Marvel publisher Martin Goodman. But after the war, as superhero popularity faded, Goodman favored Westerns and romance comics. Courtesy Jason Goodman and Taschen hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy Jason Goodman and Taschen

In 1941, superheroes like Captain America were big business for Marvel publisher Martin Goodman. But after the war, as superhero popularity faded, Goodman favored Westerns and romance comics.

Courtesy Jason Goodman and Taschen

"You could tell from the beginning this just wasn't going to be like all the other super hero comics," says Thomas. "They fought and argued. They didn't wear costumes at first. And when they did wear costumes, the Thing said "I ain't wearing this thing" and he throws it away. They start hitting each other. They talked with slang."

Lee and Kirby also created Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, the X-Men and Daredevil: Superheroes with flaws, living — and sometimes quarreling amongst themselves — in New York City, in a shared universe. "I kept it all local," says Lee. "They could all meet each other and guest star in the stories and it made them more fun for me. I think more surprising and more fun for the readers."

Lee's favorite superhero was an awkward adolescent. "I went into my publisher's office," Lee recalls, "I said I want to do a hero called Spider-Man, I want him to be a teenager and I want him to have a lot of personal problems, I think that will make it interesting. Well, this is the reception I got: 'You can't call a hero Spider-Man because people hate spiders, he can't be a teenager because only a sidekick can be a teenager and he can't have personal problems. Stan, don't you know what a superhero is? They don't have personal problems.'" But Spider-Man was a hit.

Join the Merry Marvel Marching Society!

Marvel's complex heroes set them apart from DC Comics. They were popular, says Thomas, because of their human emotions. "Not just sock, bam, pow. But real problems they had," he says. "You know, Spider-Man can't get a date and his aunt is having a heart attack. The heroes fight amongst themselves. This was what teenagers could relate to."

Lee remembers the company's Manhattan office were so tiny, there was no room to store the original artwork; secretary Flo Steinberg was tasked with giving or even throwing it away, to the chagrin of later comics collectors.
Most of the artists were freelancers working from home. But in every issue, Lee published letters to and from fans. Just like his Marvel universe, Lee says he wanted to create the illusion the staff was working in a boisterous bullpen.
In 1965, they made a promotional record, where Lee and his staff joked amongst themselves. "Well, well, Jolly Jack Kirby," Lee says in the recording. "Say a few words to the fans."

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"A few words," quips Kirby.

And there was a fan club called The Merry Marvel Marching Society, complete with its own theme song: "March along, march along, march along, march along with the Merry Marvel Marching Society," Lee sings from his office in Beverly Hills. He adds, "I wanted it to be like we're all in the same club and having a good time with it. Everything was for the fans."

Over the years, Thomas notes in the book, Marvel struggled financially; at one point the company was bailed out by rival DC, and later, by publishing Star Wars comic books before the movie franchise premiered. In the 1970s, Marvel characters began getting their own TV shows like The Incredible Hulk, and Saturday morning cartoons. And in recent years, Hollywood has begun unleashing its blockbuster hits based on Marvel superheroes.

Marvel's universe expanded, and developed legions of fans of all ages. Some of them showed up recently at the Hammer museum in Los Angeles, where Lee and Thomas signed autographs.

Among the admirers was Stanley West, a 58-year-old stock trader. "Stan, thank you very much," he told his idol. "I want to let you know I really appreciate what you've done, especially for black folk, when you had the first black comic book character."

"Damn right," answered Lee, who penned the Black Panther back in 1966.
Lee shows no signs of slowing down. With his company, Pow Entertainment, he's now working on Chinese, Indian and Latino superheroes for the movies. He's the subject of Roy Thomas' next book for Taschen. And he's making yet another cameo appearance in the upcoming Avengers movie.

As Marvel celebrates its 75 years, Stan Lee himself remains a comic book hero.

Candles, latkes, action: It's "Hanukkah Lights," with stories of the season from NPR. Join hosts Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz for original work from Andy Borowitz, Theodore Bikel, Anne Burt and Debra Ginsberg, plus a classic from the "Hanukkah Lights" vault by Erika Dreifus.

Whether you like your Hanukkah tales humorous or historical, magical or true-to-life, there's something for you in this brand-new collection of holiday stories.

Listen to the full hour-long special above, or hear individual "Hanukkah Lights" stories below.

Hear The Stories

"The First Hanukkah"

Listen to the Story

7 min 7 sec

Playlist

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Courtesy of the author

Courtesy of the author

by Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz is a New York Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. In 2001, he created the Borowitz Report, a satirical news column with millions of readers around the world, for which he won the first-ever National Press Club award for humor. The Borowitz Report was acquired by The New Yorker in 2012. He has published two recent best-selling books: The 50 Funniest American Writers, which became the first title in the history of the Library Of America to make the Times best-seller list, and a memoir, the No. 1 best-seller An Unexpected Twist, which Amazon named the Best Kindle Single of 2012. He has been called a "Swiftian satirist" (Wall Street Journal), "America's satire king" (The Daily Beast), "the funniest human on Twitter" (The New York Times), and "one of the funniest people in America" (CBS News' Sunday Morning).

Borowitz's "Hanukkah Lights" story lives up to his billing: It's a comic attempt at a better-late-than-never Hanukkah.

"For The Ghosts"

Listen to the Story

12 min 50 sec

Playlist

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Courtesy of the author

Courtesy of the author

by Anne Burt

Anne Burt's fiction has appeared in Meridian Literary Magazine (2003 Editors' Prize In Fiction), among other literary publications, including the Fall 2014 issue of Referential Magazine. She has published numerous essays, including commentary for NPR's All Things Considered and Talk Of The Nation. She is the editor of the essay collection My Father Married Your Mother, as well as co-editor (with Christina Baker Kline) of the essay collection About Face. Burt received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. in Creative Writing from New York University. She is currently working on two connected novellas, titled The Collectibles.

Burt's "Hanukkah Lights" story, "For The Ghosts," describes every Jewish mother's nightmare (and her dream).

"The Only Miracle"

Listen to the Story

11 min 29 sec

Playlist

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Courtesy of the author

Courtesy of the author

by Debra Ginsberg

Debra Ginsberg is the author of three memoirs, including Waiting: The True Confessions Of A Waitress and Raising Blaze, and four novels, including Blind Submission and the award-winning The Grift. She reviews books for The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Washington Post Book World and Shelf Awareness, and has contributed to NPR's All Things Considered. Ginsberg has worked as a freelance editor for more than 20 years. She lives in San Diego, literally surrounded by family. When not writing, editing, reading, walking on the beach or bantering with her son, she bakes world-famous confections and tarts.

Ginsberg's contribution to "Hanukkah Lights" is a dream of a story, evoking the wonder of a miracle and the heartbreak of miracles that don't take.

"The City Of Light"

Listen to the Story

6 min 56 sec

Playlist

Courtesy of the artist

by Theodore Bikel

There's nowhere near enough room here to list Theodore Bikel's accomplishments. A legendary folksinger; theater, film and television actor; radio host; president of Actors' Equity; political activist; Jewish spokesman; and author, Bikel has traveled the world into his 90s, performing, speaking and singing. From The African Queen to Star Trek: The Next Generation, his versatility speaks for itself.

For "Hanukkah Lights," Bikel offers a new story that recalls a Marc Chagall painting.

"Fidelis"

Listen to the Story

14 min 6 sec

Playlist

Courtesy of the author

by Erika Dreifus

Two years after Pearl Harbor, exhausted Marines on a tiny Pacific island find hope in a moment of unexpected light. Dreifus is the author of Quiet Americans, a story collection inspired by the experiences of her paternal grandparents, German Jews who came to the U.S. in the late 1930s.

Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida and the brother and son of two former U.S. presidents, has essentially kicked off the 2016 presidential campaign with pre-announcement announcement on Facebook.

Saying he had conversations with his family about the future of the country, Bush said he had decided to "actively explore" a presidential run.

He went on:

"In January, I also plan to establish a Leadership PAC that will help me facilitate conversations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical challenges facing our exceptional nation. The PAC's purpose will be to support leaders, ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans.

"In the coming months, I hope to visit with many of you and have a conversation about restoring the promise of America.

"Best wishes to you and your families for a happy holiday season. I'll be in touch soon."

On the Democratic side, everyone is, of course, waiting on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make a move.

election 2016

Jeb Bush