In some countries, the mention of “Black Santa” refers to the call for more racial representation so that it isn’t exclusively a white Christmas. But in Japan, it seems that Japanese parents summon Black Santa to warn their children to behave properly. Otherwise, Black Santa would come instead of Nikoniko Santa ニコニコサンタ (Smiling Santa aka the Santa Claus that children all over the world idiolise) and give naughty children rubbish. Or at least that was how it worked in my household.
These few weeks were relatively a breeze because whenever my son acted up and refused to eat or basically behave, we would pretend that Black Santa had come to stare disapprovingly at him. We told our boy that Black Santa is only visible to adults, so you can imagine how confused and frustrated he was whenever we called upon Black Santa to put him in his place.
Oh, he was definitely provoked because he would raise his voice to proclaim his dislike for Black Santa. And obediently tuck into his meal after that. He was conditioned into behaving himself - all thanks to Black Santa!
I’m sorry that Christmas will be over - and with it, the hectic, chaotic days of ensuring that he will eat his food will resume like your regular Netflix programming.
Christ
Krishna