Christmas is celebrated in 160 countries around the world. Celebrations begin either on the 24th or 25th of December and food usually plays an important part. The English, for example, traditionally eat roast turkey on Christmas Day (left). The Portuguese enjoy plates of salt cod served with boiled cabbage. The Germans prefer to eat roast goose or roasted fish. It is a time for families and friends to come together and enjoy one another’s company.
Many countries, of course, do not celebrate Christmas. One of these is Japan, where less than one per cent of the population is Christian. However, the Japanese still have one tradition on Christmas Day. Millions of Japanese families share what is known as KFC party barrels!
It all started nearly 50 years ago, in 1970. Takeshi Okawara was the general manager of the first KFC store in Japan. One day around Christmas time, he heard two foreigners talking in his restaurant. They were saying how much they missed eating roast turkey at that time of year. The following night, Takeshi woke up from a deep sleep with a great idea. Why not promote KFC chicken for Christmas? He was so excited that he climbed out of bed and wrote his idea down on a piece of paper to make sure he did not forget it.
At the time, the Japanese did not celebrate Christmas at all, but they were becoming interested in Western culture. Takeshi developed his idea of Christmas party barrels of KFC chicken. He believed they fitted into the Japanese culture of families sharing food. People would collect them on their way home from work and whole families would get together to share the food.
Four years later, in 1974, KFC took Takeshi’s idea and began to advertise it on television throughout Japan. They called it ‘Kentucky for Christmas’. It has been growing in popularity ever since; about 11 million people today buy KFC party barrels every year. They must be ordered weeks in advance. Otherwise, you must queue for hours. It is the busiest time of the year for most KFC restaurants in Japan.
Takeshi Okawara was no usual restaurant general manager. Before taking up his job at KFC, he had studied at Harvard University in the USA. As time passed, he quickly became more senior within the company and served as president and chief executive officer of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002. Today, Japan is the third-largest market for KFC worldwide, following China and the USA.
Experience Christmas in Japan:
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