An annual anti-Christmas protest held by Japan’s Revolutionary Alliance of Unpopular Men failed to materialise this year as the group didn’t put in their paperwork.
The long-running protest group, whose slogan is “smash Christmas”, has marched on Tokyo’s streets every Christmas Eve for the last 17 years.
It describes itself as a “psychological safety net for unpopular people all over the world” and the name for its members in Japanese, “himote”, specifically refers to men who aren’t popular with women.
Christmas Eve is seen as one of the most romantic date nights of the year in Japan but this year, Tokyo’s streets were a little emptier.
The group posted on X before the big day: “Regarding this year’s Crush Christmas demonstration, due to various circumstances our representative was unable to go to carry out the application process, and so the demonstration has been cancelled.
“We sincerely regret this, and deeply apologise to you, comrades.”
One follower replied saying he had been “looking forward to it again this year”.
Last year about 15 members of the group marched for half an hour near Tokyo’s Shibuya Station.
Crushing Christmas isn’t the Alliance’s only objective: Valentine’s Day, Halloween, White Day and classism also make it onto the list.
In Japan, White Day falls a month after Valentine’s Day and is a day when men give gifts to the women who treated them on Valentine’s Day.
Halloween made it onto the list in 2016 after the group received “numerous petitions calling for the destruction of Halloween, which is becoming established as a new event for popular people in Japan”.
No costumes were allowed at the Halloween smashing event.
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The group was founded in October 2006, after its secretary general Furusawa Katsuhiro “returned home heartbroken after having confessed his feelings to a woman” and being rejected, according to the Alliance’s website.
“He came across a passage in the Communist Manifesto and had a sudden realisation: ‘Being unpopular is a class issue!'” says the website.
He then founded the “Revolutionary Unpopular Alliance”.
At the moment, despite the paperwork problems over Christmas, the group’s other annual marches look to be going ahead.
