Have Yourself A Merry KFC Christmas
In Japan, fried chicken trumps turkey — and pretty much every other food — during Christmastime.
By Ray Vann
Because nothing says it’s Christmastime like greasy fried chicken.
All across the world, people celebrate Christmas in unique, heartwarming, and occasionally very bizarre ways.
In Venezuela, revelers strap roller skates to their feet and glide their way to Christmas mass. Children parade behind people dressed as Mary and Joseph as they pretend to seek shelter in Mexico, while in the Netherlands, kids leave out shoes in the hopes that they’ll be filled with gifts come the morning.
And in cities and towns across Japan….they eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
With cries of "Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!" — “Kentucky for Christmas!” — Japanese families sit down on Christmas Eve to fill their bellies with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and other dishes from the 67-year-old American fast food chain. Oftentimes, they’ve placed reservations months in advance or waited in hours-long lines at the nearest KFC for takeaway holiday meals.
Diners waiting in line at a KFC restaurant in Akihabara, Tokyo. (Credit: Wikimedia/Ian Muttoo
Of course, during the holidays it’s not totally unheard of for cultures to dabble in other cuisines. Jews are known for dining out at Chinese restaurants on Christmas day, while the Dutch have a tradition of busting out the rijsttafel — a large Indonesian banquet — for special gatherings and festive occasions.
The tradition of eating KFC for Christmas Eve dinner in Japan traces its roots to one fateful advertising campaign from the winter of 1974. Kentucky Fried Chicken -— which had only just opened its first chain in Japan four years earlier — decided to take advantage of what they deemed a prime commercial opportunity.
It wasn’t just the untapped Japanese population they were after: It was also the fact that turkey is pretty hard to find in most of the country’s markets.
Those greasy-slick K.F.C. execs in the ‘70s realized that because turkey was a relative rarity in Japan, they could fill that gap with their own poultry product.
They also (correctly) assumed that the thousands of American and Western expats living in Japan might be missing a meat-centric staple during their Christmas Eve dinners.
For just $10, Japanese KFC restaurants started selling whole fried birds with a bottle of wine, and in no time, people began flocking to their stores.
Not only was this a great bargain, it was also an opportunity to have an unusual meal; one that Japanese families would ordinarily not have been able to whip up at home.
Life-sized statues of Colonel Sanders can be found in Japanese KFCs, and yes, they even dress them up for Christmas. (Credit: Flickr/Catherine)
“Many Japanese households don’t have a proper, full-size, under-the-counter oven that can cook a whole chicken,” Toshi, a 29-year-old from Japan, explained to OK Whatever through Reddit.
“Stand-alone microwave/oven hybrids that sit on the counter can only cook chicken thighs at best.”
Even today, he said turkey remains a relative rarity, making chicken still the best option for those seeking a big slab of meat for their Christmas Eve dinner.
“The only places you can get a turkey are Costco and a few select stores in Tokyo with regular expat customers,” Toshi added.
Over the years, KFC’s Christmas offerings in Japan have expanded and their holiday buckets now include all sorts of goodies. Cake, as well as coleslaw, stuffing, and even a side of ribs have made their way onto the menu, enticing even more people to rely upon the Colonel for their Christmas Eve dinners.
Thanks to this marketing campaign, K.F.C. regularly sees their highest sales in Japan during the month of December.
KFC has also started capitalizing on New Years, using well-known actresses like Haruka Ayase to advertise their “New Year Barrels.” (Credit: Flickr/Danny Choo)
For 2019, the BBC estimated around 3.6 million Japanese would consume the fast food brand’s secret herbs and spices on Christmas Eve.
That’s a lot of people, especially considering that only about 1% of the country actually celebrates Christmas as a religious holiday.
Japanese KFC fans sometimes wait in hours-long lines just to grab a holiday to-go meal. (Credit: Wikimedia/ysakaki)
(This article was originally published on December 23, 2019)
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