IWAKUNI, Japan - Celebrating Christmas in Japan can be quite a challenge, as a Butler family has found out.

"One of the tricky things of living overseas is finding a good Christmas tree," said Brad Buckley, a U.S. Marine stationed in Iwakuni, Japan. "We can't stand artificial trees and so we battle every year to try and find a good tree."

BUCKLEY, WHO HAS served in the Marines for 18 years, has spent the past 10 of those celebrating Christmas away from his hometown of Butler. The last six have been in Japan.

Buckley's wife, Jessica, and his three children, Nicholas, 18, Daniel, 9, and Ryan, 5, have been a part of those celebrations, and they have all done their best to bring a traditional Christmas to the faraway land.

"The military does a good job of getting live trees here on base," Buckley said, but added the trees aren't exactly fresh when they arrive.

The trees have to be sent by ship to Japan, which takes about 45 days, he said.

"Usually by the time Christmas is here, our tree is dead-looking," he said. "But we would rather have a live tree that looks sad than a fake tree any day."

Getting a good Christmas tree isn't the only challenge to celebrating Christmas in Japan.Since less than 1 percent of Japanese people are Christians, many of them do not celebrate the holiday, Buckley said.Another challenge is finding decorations at a reasonable price."A plastic Santa might cost 10,000 yen, which is about $100," Buckley said. "In the stores that sell Christmas lights, they go for about 4,000 yen, which is about $40."The military also has started restricting where lights can be hung on homes on the base, Buckley said, which means he and his family can't hang out as many lights this year.ALTHOUGH CHRISTMAS supplies are scarce, the military goes to great lengths to help those on the base have a Merry Christmas, Buckley said."There are plenty of Christmas parties on base," he said. "Santa usually arrives by helicopter at most of these."Buckley said his family goes to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and they also have a traditional turkey and ham dinner with friends on Christmas "since family is so far away."There are a few benefits to celebrating Christmas in Japan. One is that stores are open."The nice thing about the Japanese not celebrating Christmas is that we can run out to the store on Christmas Day and buy something we forgot, because the stores are not closed," Buckley said.WHILE THE JAPANESE do not celebrate Christmas as extravagantly as Americans do, Buckley said New Year's is an all-out extravaganza there.From Jan. 1 to 3, everything in Japan shuts down and a New Year's celebration ensues, Buckley said.

"On New Year's Day, the food they serve is mochi," he said. "This is a special rice that is grown so that they can pound it into a soft dough and put sweet beans and other ingredients inside it."Mochi is eaten raw.Buckley said he and his family are invited to participate in a "mochi pounding" every year, in which people pound the rice into mochi. Last year, his sons, Daniel and Ryan, got a chance to pound the mochi."When the Japanese do it, there are two individuals and they get such a rhythm going," he said. "And yet another person is still brave enough to stick their hand into the pot (to mix it) as the mallets are swinging."While Japanese children eat their mochi with toppings such as shredded radish and sauce, American children put marshmallows and chocolate on theirs, Buckley said.