Summer Santa visits evacuees in Saitama

Santa Claus flew into Saitama yesterday to cheer up the evacuee children of Futaba City, Fukushima Prefecture. The kids, who are currently residing in Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, were greeted with gifts and high-fives by the big guy himself, clad in a loose white T-shirt and green felt shorts, who had made the trip from Finland especially.

However, good will to all men was not forthcoming from Japan's own official Santa Claus. Paradise Yamamoto (also famous for his peculiar Mambonsai project), has been tweeting up a storm over the last month or so, claiming that the Finish impostor had flown for free and used charity money to travel around the troubled regions of Japan in a limousine (a sleigh being little use at the height of Japanese summer). He claimed that the 'real Santa' would make arrangements to travel off his own back, and that there are better uses for charity funds than flying plump gentlemen across the world for a few brief appearances.

Yamamoto also pointed out that this particular Santa had not even taken the trouble to attend the recent Summer Santa Conference, an annual event for Santas, all of whom have to pass exams in order to be accredited by the International Association of Authorized Santa Clauses.

Who knew that the North Pole could be such a fractious place?

Click for a video of Santa's summer Saitama appearances, in Japanese only