Christmas with Colonel Sanders in Japan: Japanese Place Fried Chicken Orders Up to Six Months in Advance

The common Christmas dinner in Japan is Kentucky Fried Chicken. People from Japan place orders for KFC six months in advance for a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas dinner. Why you ask?

Much like Coca-Cola has reshaped the image of Santa Claus, the Japanese see images of Colonel Sanders and are reminded of Santa Claus--you know the white beard and hair.

As you might remember, my mother gave me a turntable last year, and I recently rediscovered my love of music on vinyl. As I was going through my mother’s old record collection, I found a special promotional record from Kentucky Friend Chicken called Christmas with the Colonel. I gave it to my Uncle Bill, but I am thinking now I should have put it on E-Bay Japan. It might be a very popular rarity over there. As for me and my Uncle, we just laughed about it.