Did you know? In Japan eating KFC for Christmas is a huge tradition.

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However, the Japanese Christmas tradition of ordering KFC for the holiday meal is a particularly curious custom for Westerners, who might balk at the idea of feasting with fast-food chicken.

"We always order KFC at Christmas because that is what my parents used to do when I was young," said Tomura, a 40-year-old housewife from Yokohama.

"It was always a bit of a treat when I was young as we didn't go out to restaurants so often back then. And KFC seemed foreign and exotic," she added.
Fifty years of KFC in Japan

The story behind KFC's near monopoly on the fast-food Christmas feast dates back to 1970, according to the company. When the first KFC outlet in Japan opened its doors, it was popular with foreigners who had not acquired a taste for Japanese cuisine.
The manager of the restaurant, Takeshi Okawara, overheard some foreigners bemoaning the fact that it was impossible to get turkey in Japan to celebrate Christmas. Okawara came up with the idea of a "party barrel" that could be sold in the run-up to Christmas, with chicken serving as the substitute for the traditional turkey.

By 1974, the company's Christmas campaign had gone nationwide under the slogan "Kentucky for Christmas."

It became a national phenomenon, in part because the Japanese were still slightly unsure about the protocols surrounding this foreign holiday, but they knew all about KFC.

Combined with a clever marketing campaign, and Colonel Sanders' recipe for fried chicken is now synonymous with a festive Japanese Christmas.

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