Putting The"X" in Xmas

Japanese Christmas card, 1985—

Opening it reveals a popup scene: the priest, a sugary "traditional Japanese Christmas cake"...

... Surprise!

No, that's not Who it would seem; the cartoon represents this guy. This was during his early career, as TV's popular "Beat Takeshi"—

The targets of his jokes were often the socially vulnerable, including the elderly, the handicapped, the poor, children, women, the ugly and the stupid. Complaints to the broadcaster led to censorship of some of Kitano's jokes and the editing of offensive dialogue. Kitano confirmed in a video interview that he was forbidden to access the NHK studios for five years for having exposed his body during a show when it was totally forbidden.

The explanation I got for this card is that the cartoon portrays a recurring bit on the Takeshi show. When a character does something naughty, the star materializes on a cross, hollering,
"ダメ!" ["Damé!": bad], while holding his hands in an "X"(a Japanese signal for, "No!")

Well, Christianity is exotic to most Japanese, so related trappings serve well as comic props. All in good fun... Though I have always marvelled at the US corporate connection to Sanrio's card creation...