KFC is Christmas?

Many have heard that Japan has a tradition of eating KFC on Christmas. This is indeed true. Each year, people in Japan preorder their buckets of chicken weeks in advance to ensure they can enjoy this festive meal, which comes with various bucket options. So how did it become a staple? And what are the smaller details about this tradition?

I asked my students to confirm their thoughts on the link between KFC and Christmas, and they all agreed that Christmas is synonymous with KFC. Christmas is chicken and KFC is Christmas. The story follows an expatriate who complains about the difficulty of finding turkey for Christmas. Unable to locate any, he decided to order a large amount of KFC to satisfy his cravings. Turkey is not native to Japan, making it hard to find, and even if you do manage to find some, the high price of importing it will likely discourage you from buying it.

The owner of the shop took note of this and pondered. Takeshi Okawara, the manager of the first KFC in Japan, had a dream! He envisioned a Japanese family gathering around the table to enjoy a bucket of KFC to celebrate Christmas. And the rest became history! 

 While it may seem unusual to us in the West, where we often prepare a homemade feast or at least order our Christmas dinner from a restaurant, Japan's love for fast food meals during the holiday season is truly fascinating. In my previous blog, I explained that Japan does not celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. Instead, people have fun and participate in the commercial side of the holiday, but for most, it remains a normal workday.

After work, buying a fast food meal is a small way to acknowledge Christmas in Japanese culture.

So what’s in the bucket?

There are several meal options available, one of which includes a whole roast chicken! I hope to try KFC's Christmas special at least once. Some meal buckets come with a cake that changes each year. They also include festive-themed cups and plates. Additionally, the chicken is prepared to minimize its smell, as KFC wanted to be considerate of people using public transport who may not want to smell chicken on their way home from work.

The price ranges from approximately 2,780 yen to 5,000 yen, with many add-on options available. Christmas items can be customized to suit individual preferences! I hope you found this small entry fascinating as I sure had fun researching it!