Why Do Japanese People Eat KFC on Christmas?
A single store manager in Nagoya started it in the early 1970s, a national campaign made it stick in 1974, and fifty years later Christmas Eve is the busiest day of the year for the chain in Japan.
This is the single most successful piece of food marketing in modern history, and it is worth understanding why it worked rather than just noting that it did.
How it started
KFC opened its first Japanese restaurant in Nagoya in 1970. It was managed by Takeshi Okawara, who later became chief executive of KFC Japan.
The origin story most often told is that Okawara overheard foreign customers talking about missing turkey at Christmas. Turkey was not sold in Japan in any meaningful quantity and most Japanese homes did not have an oven big enough to roast one anyway. Fried chicken was available, it was festive, and it came in a bucket that looked like a party.
He began promoting a Christmas party barrel locally. It sold. In 1974 the company rolled the idea out across Japan under the slogan Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, and that campaign is what turned a store level promotion into a national habit.
Why it worked when most campaigns do not
Three things lined up, and all three were unusual.
There was no competing tradition. Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan and only a small share of the population is Christian. The day arrived as an imported, largely secular occasion with decorations, lights and gift giving, but with no inherited menu attached. Nobody’s grandmother had a Christmas recipe to defend.
The product fitted the occasion. Roast turkey needs a large oven, which most Japanese kitchens did not have. A bucket of prepared chicken required no cooking, no equipment and no skill, and it fed a family.
Christmas in Japan skews romantic and social. Christmas Eve in particular functions more like a couples and friends night out than a family religious occasion, which suits a shared, celebratory, easy meal far better than a formal dinner.
What it looks like now
The scale is genuinely hard to picture from the outside.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Busiest day | Christmas Eve, the single biggest sales day of the year for KFC Japan |
| Traffic | Roughly ten times the customers of a normal day, by the company’s own account |
| Ordering window | Reservations open as early as October and popular slots sell out well before Christmas |
| Christmas weekend sales | About 6 billion yen over the 23rd to 25th in 2017, the highest Christmas on record at that point |
| Volume | Around 24 million pieces of chicken across that weekend |
| Queues | Walk in lines on the day are long enough that stores handle pre orders and collection slots separately |
The Christmas set is not the standard menu. A party barrel typically pairs chicken with extras that do not exist in the American lineup, such as a gratin and a small Christmas cake, and it is sold as a boxed set at a fixed price rather than as individual items.
The Christmas cake is a separate tradition
Worth knowing, because the two get muddled. Japan has its own established Christmas cake, a sponge with whipped cream and strawberries, which predates the KFC campaign and comes from a different commercial push entirely. KFC attached itself to an existing custom by including a cake in the set rather than inventing that half.
Does the Colonel wear a Santa suit?
Yes. The life size statues of the founder that stand outside Japanese branches are dressed for the season, which has become a photograph people take deliberately. It is a small detail but it explains a lot about how thoroughly the brand has embedded itself in the occasion.
Could it happen anywhere else?
Almost certainly not, and the company has tried. The conditions in Japan in 1974 were specific: a newly popular holiday with no food attached, a kitchen format that ruled out the Western default, and a chain arriving early enough to claim the space. In markets with existing Christmas food traditions there is nothing to claim.
The American menu is a different lineup entirely, covered on the KFC menu.
Related Questions
Why do Japanese people eat KFC on Christmas?
Because of a 1974 national advertising campaign with the slogan Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii, meaning Kentucky for Christmas. Japan had adopted Christmas as a secular celebration without any traditional meal attached, so the campaign filled an empty space. Fifty years later it is an established custom rather than an advertisement.
Who started the KFC Christmas tradition in Japan?
Takeshi Okawara, manager of the first KFC in Japan, which opened in Nagoya in 1970 and who later became chief executive of KFC Japan. He began selling a Christmas party barrel at store level in the early 1970s, and the company took the idea nationwide in 1974.
How busy is KFC in Japan at Christmas?
Christmas Eve is the chain’s biggest sales day of the year in Japan, with roughly ten times the customers of an ordinary day. Over the Christmas weekend in 2017 the company reported around 6 billion yen in sales, which worked out at roughly 24 million pieces of chicken.
When do you have to order KFC for Christmas in Japan?
Reservations open as early as October and the popular collection slots go long before Christmas week. Ordering ahead is the normal approach because walk in queues on the day are very long, and stores run pre order collection separately from the regular counter.
What is in a Japanese KFC Christmas barrel?
It is a boxed set rather than the standard menu. A typical party barrel combines several pieces of chicken with extras that do not appear on the American menu, commonly a gratin and a small Christmas cake, sold at a fixed price with a commemorative plate or packaging in some years.
Do Japanese people think Americans eat KFC at Christmas?
That claim gets repeated more than it deserves. The campaign did originally position fried chicken as a Western Christmas food, but the custom has long since stood on its own as a Japanese tradition, and it continued growing well after any confusion about American habits had cleared up.
Is Christmas a holiday in Japan?
Not a national holiday. Shops and offices stay open and most people work. It is celebrated widely as a secular occasion with lights, decorations and gift giving, and Christmas Eve in particular is treated as a night out for couples and friends rather than a family religious event.
Why is there a Christmas cake with the chicken?
Japan already had a Christmas cake tradition, a sponge with whipped cream and strawberries, which came from a separate commercial campaign and predates the KFC promotion. Including a cake in the party barrel attached the chicken to a custom people already observed rather than creating a new one.
More on KFC
About this guide. USA Food Menu is an independent reference site and is not affiliated with KFC or Yum! Brands. Sales figures come from company statements reported in the press and describe Japan only. Christmas set contents and prices change every year, so check KFC Japan directly for the current season. Current US prices and calories are on the KFC menu.
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