Before I begin……Merry Christmas!!!!
So now that we’ve established that, I want to talk a little about Christmas Dinner in Japan. If you didn’t already know, Christmas in Japan is usually accompanied by a KFC Dinner! On our Second year of living in Japan, my family decided to do just that. It consisted of us making a reservation for the dinner and paying for it a month in advance, just to be safe. We were given a specific window of time to pick up the dinner and it worked out very well. The Customer Service was amazingly accurate and the food was prepared very fresh; as if we had just ordered it.
WHY KFC???
There are a few theories as to why KFC became the official Christmas Dinner of Japan. The first theory I heard of was that Turkey is rare and expensive in Japan, so chicken was the perfect alternative. So KFC started a huge push and campaign to market the idea.
Another theory was that the Japanese assumed, probably again because of the KFC campaign, that it was the United State’s official Christmas Dinner as well and with the need to emulate the American Western Lifestyle, they carried on with the idea and it just stuck.
The third reason I heard was that there was an elementary school that decided to treat their students to a KFC Christmas Dinner and their local KFC even sent their own Colonel Sanders Santa to deliver the food. As soon as other schools heard of this, they too joined the bandwagon and the idea exploded into what it is today.
Whatever the reason, our KFC dinner was delicious, and very appropriate to the season. We definitely enjoyed it and now with us not being in Japan, it was definitely the one thing that was missing for our family this year.
Along with the regular menu, they included many other combos that consisted of additional seasonal items. If you’re ever in Japan during the Holidays, I highly recommend trying the KFC dinner versus cooking a meal on your own at home. You’ll both enjoy the food and the free time you gain by not being stuck in the kitchen all day.
You can bet that this is going to happen again the next time we’re there for Christmas. Fingers crossed we can be there again to enjoy another KFC Christmas Dinner in Japan once again!
Past and Future 