Real christmas tree in Sapporo

[JaffaCake]

Hello all,
I am moving to Sapporo next week and naturally the most important thing on my mind right now is does anyone know where to buy a real christmas tree?
My partner says you can buy fake ones, but i'd much prefer a real one if they are available.

Many Thanks

 

[Mike Cash]

Christmas in Japan is an imported make-believe holiday that with made-up local traditions (ordering a cake from a convenience store and eating KFC). Nobody takes it seriously enough for there to be enough demand for live trees to make it worthwhile for anyone to start a business to fill the need.

I would be very surprised if you found a place selling them.

If the holiday is of any genuine religious significance to you then brace yourself to be appalled.

 

[nekojita]

Seems もみの木 (fir specifically) or 生ツリー are the search terms you need, and you can find sellers on Rakuten if you're willing to mail order. Someone over here was looking for the same thing in Sapporo a couple years back with no apparent luck. Probably there's not sufficient demand for garden centres etc. to bother.

 

[Mike Cash]

The closest ray of hope I found googling was a story from 2011 of the Yokohama IKEA selling trees. No IKEA in Sapporo yet, though.

 

[undrentide]

In Kanto area, there are some so-called "Home Centre" (kind of DIY shops) are handling real Christmas tree in their gardening section. You can ask for モミノキ or ドイツトウヒ.
The result of Google search shows that some Japanese people tried to find such a shop but without success. You can ask at the garden shop within Sapporo Yurigahara Park (but I suspect they are handling only small pots of plants...)
http://www.sapporo-park.or.jp/yuri/english/
http://www.sapporo-park.or.jp/yuri/about/faci/gardenshop.html
(According to the Japanese version of their website, the shop is located next to the Green Centre.)

Wood and Plywood Museum in Tokyo is handling real Christmas trees, and the thing is, the trees are sent from Hokkaido ! It looks to be a tiny one, but at least it's real.
http://www.woodmuseum.jp/xmastree/index.html
The cost is JPY6,000 if the delivery is to be made within Hokkaido. (For outside of Hokkaid, it's JPY7,000.) Closing date for order is 2nd December 2014.

 

[thomas]

IKEA ...

They have veritable forests of christmas trees, at least in Kohoku where we saw them last year. Not sure if there's one in Sapporo.

Edit: sorry, I didn't see Mike's post!

 

[JaffaCake]

Awesome, thanks so much for your time everyone. Now, that I know there are some places in Japan at least I shall keep looking to try and get hold of one in Sapporo. Cheers

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I was shocked when I was Xmas tree shopping for my room on base back in Fukuoka in 1970. They had nice 3 and 4 footers but they came with a big burlap wrapped root ball so you could plant them after the holidays. I thought it was a great idea , but watering the root ball was a bit of a hassle.

 

[JaffaCake]

We ended up getting a fake tree from Nitori. But it was reasonably priced and came as a set with some decorations already in the box, so that was pretty cool. Cheers