How chicken became the Japanese Christmas food

Nothing illustrates the ubiquity of Christmas like how the Japanese do it.

Only 1 percent of Japanese people consider themselves Christians. But Christmas is a very popular holiday in Japan for one reason: fried chicken.

Since the 1980s, Japanese families have indulged in the KFC Party Barrel for Christmas dinner.

According to CNN, “KFC Japan pulled in 6.9 billion yen (roughly U.S. $63 million) from December 20 to 25 in 2018, with lines out the door starting on December 23.”

The Japanese even have Santa-san, a man with white hair in a red suit whose face looks like, you guessed it, Colonel Sanders himself.

This didn’t happen without some marketing.

When Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) outlets started opening in Japan in the 1970s, the country had no Christmas traditions, since the people had no roots in Christianity.

In 1974, the company launched its “Kentucky for Christmas” advertising campaign. Advertisements showed happy families enjoying a feast of delicious chicken while “My Old Kentucky Home” played in the background. Of course, that song isn’t a Christmas carol, but it didn’t need to be in secular Japan.

In addition, the fried chicken was not too different than the Japanese karaage, small pieces of deep-fried meat. And, the Japanese social practice of sharing food, matched with the idea of a Party Barrel of chicken, shrimp, coleslaw, tiramisu cake, and wine.