Christmas cake

Normally, Christmas cake is white cake with white icing, to set off the red of the strawberries. However, we're a chocoholic family, so my wife got this little beauty. I should emphasize beauty since, like most Japanese cakes, I'd give it a 10 for looks but only a 5 for taste. When it comes to cakes and cookies, Japanese prefer about half as much butter and sugar as I think is appropriate.

We had this last night, the 28th. That brings to mind the other meaning of Christmas cake in Japan. When I came here to live, in the early 90s, I was told that Christmas cake referred to unmarried women over age 25. The idea was that, like Christmas cake after Christmas, nobody wanted them after 25. However, the expression is apparently dying out. I haven't heard it used for several years. That's probably because the average age for marriage for Japanese women continues to increase. It's now over 27 and climbing.