Santas From Around The World: Hotei, the Santa Claus of Japan (Advent 2020, Day 1)

I’m starting my Advent with the country I most want to visit and that’s Japan. With Westernization, the concept of Christmas has grown in leaps and bounds in Japan. The American version of Santa is alluring to the children of Japan as St. Nick closely resembles one of the country’s 7 lucky gods, Hotei.

Though bald, the corpulent Hotei has facial hair, wears a red suit and carries with him a large empty sack that doubles as makeshift housing for the wandering monk. Hotei is often referred to as the laughing Buddha; often because of the throngs of children who flock to him. But mostly, Hotei is happy because he isn’t confined to one place for any given time. 

Hotei’s name literally means ‘cloth sack’ and one legend about him has Hotei giving small trinkets and other gifts to the children he encounters. But don’t expect Hotei to give you that Xbox you’ve been dreaming of just because you are good. Often the children had to perform a good deed or gift Hotei with food, water or clothes in order to receive their prizes.

Along with Hotei, there’s another Santa Claus figure who has popped up in Japan in recent years- Colonel Sanders! That’s right, the legendary icon of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has become an ersatz Santa Claus for the people of Japan. 

Since Japan doesn’t really have any traditional Christmas foods, YUM brands, the parent company of KFC, spent millions of dollars in the past 20 years to make it’s fried chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits the official food of a Japanese Christmas. 

With KFC becoming Japan’s official holiday food, YUM Brands has centered it’s holiday marketing campaign around Col. Sanders. His white Southern Gentleman’s suit is dyed red and a big floppy hat is placed upon the Colonel’s head as he reminds families to pre-order their holiday meals before it’s too late.

In the past decade, sales of KFC have increased over 300% every December as Japanese families race to ensure a KFC meal is served for Christmas. On December 23rd and 24th, people line around the block to pick up their buckets of chicken and fixings from their local KFC. Some families will even rent out the establishment and have family reunions and even weddings on Christmas Eve! Only the traditional wedding cake is replaced with a berry tort or tiramisu pie. 

Sorry, I don’t have a recipe for either treat. But I can provide you with a quick and easy traditional Japanese Butter Cookie recipe that only calls for 6 ingredients. Enjoy!

From matchaandtofu.com

AUTHENTIC EASY JAPANESE BUTTER COOKIES

Servings: 20 Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 240 g cake flour

• 100 g powdered sugar / caster sugar / granulated sugar (only for food processor method ) add 1-2 tbsp more sugar if you'd like it sweeter

• 120 g butter diced

• 1 egg well beaten

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

INSTRUCTIONS

MAKING BY FOOD PROCESSOR

• Place the flour and sugar into a food processor and pulse until blended. If you use granulated sugar, firstly pour the sugar only into a blender or food processor. Blend the sugar until it is a fine.

• Add the butter and pulse until sandy. Then add the egg and the vanilla extract. Pulse until the mixture until a dough forms. Scraping down sides as needed.

• Take the dough out. Then knead and form into a ball.

• Divide the dough in half, and place one of the dough in a bow. Add the cocoa powder and well combine with hands.  

• Pat the plain dough into rectangle shape. And put the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll out the dough to 5 mm (3/16-inch) thick. Repeat with the remaining cocoa dough.

• Wrap the 2 sheets of dough in plastic wrap. And refrigerate for 1 hour.

• Preheat the oven to 160 C / 325 F / gas mark 3.

• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the dough with a knife or cookie cutters into desired shapes and arrange on the prepared baking sheets.

• Bake for 17 to 20 minutes until edge of the cookies slightly brown. Then cool on the baking sheet until firm.

MAKING BY HAND

• Sift the flour and leave the butter at room temperature until soft and beat until creamy with a rubber spatula.

• Add the sugar and mix until well blended.

• Add beaten egg little by little. (for 4 times) After each addition, well mix to combine. Then add the vanilla extract to blend.

• Add the shifted flour and incorporate until a dough forms.

• Remaining step is the same as food processor method. So follow from step 3 of the instructions above.

Note: the recipe was updated in January 2020. Specifically, I deleted cup measurement and added more detailed instructions for non-food processor users.