Why Japan Eats KFC on Christmas Day (Yes, Really)

In most countries, Christmas dinner means turkey, roasts and family recipes passed down through generations. But in Japan, Christmas Day looks very different and for millions of people, it involves sitting down to a bucket of fried chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The tradition dates back to the 1970s, when KFC Japan launched a marketing campaign called Kentucky for Christmas. At the time, Christmas wasn’t widely celebrated, and many foreigners living in Japan struggled to find traditional festive meals. KFC positioned fried chicken as the perfect Christmas alternative and the idea unexpectedly caught on with locals.

Today, eating KFC on Christmas has become a full-blown cultural phenomenon. Families often pre-order their meals weeks in advance, special Christmas buckets are released every year, and long queues form outside KFC branches across the country. What started as a clever advertising campaign has turned into one of Japan’s most recognisable modern Christmas traditions.

Despite Christmas not being a public holiday in Japan, KFC’s festive season remains one of the company’s busiest times of the year. For many Japanese families, Christmas simply wouldn’t feel complete without fried chicken, proving that sometimes, the most unlikely traditions are the ones that stick the most.

#MaltaDaily