Why Japan Eats KFC for Christmas

Every December 24th, while families across the Western world gather around a roasted turkey, over 3.6 million Japanese households sit down to eat something entirely different: a cardboard bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. In a country where less than 1% of the population is Christian, customers place their KFC orders up to two months in advance. Those who forget will stand in freezing lines outside for two to three hours just to bring home a box of fried chicken, a Christmas cake, and a commemorative ceramic plate. How did an American fast-food bucket replace a sacred religious holiday in Japan — and why did a single white lie told on national television in 1974 convince an entire nation that fried chicken was a Western Christmas tradition? Primary Scientific & Historical Sources: 1. Okawara, Takeshi. "Universality and Particularity in Globalization." Business Quarterly 57, no. 4 (1993). 2. Barton, Eric. "Why Japan Celebrates Christmas with KFC." BBC Worklife (2016). 3. Smith, K. Annabelle. "Why Japan is Obsessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas." Smithsonian Magazine (2012). 4. Allison, Anne. "Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination." University of California Press (2006). 5. Quigley, J.T. "A Kentucky Fried Christmas in Japan." The Diplomat (2013). #WhyWeEat #CulinaryAnthropology #KFCJapan #JapaneseFood #ChristmasTraditions #FoodHistory #MarketingGenius