Christmas with Colonel Sanders

Eating fried chicken every year “is what makes Christmas, Christmas.”

Eating fried chicken every year “is what makes Christmas, Christmas.”

Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity — all are active in Japan. But something less than one percent — that’s < 1% — of the Japanese population profess to be Christian. That doesn’t prevent them from celebrating Christmas, and gathering around the table for the traditional holiday repast.

For many in Japan, Christmas dinner is cole slaw, shrimp gratin, triple-berry tiramisu cake and chicken. Not just any chicken, though, but Kentucky Fried Chicken. People line up at their closest KFC on Christmas Eve at for their “Party Barrel,” ordered in advance. KFC Japan does a third of its business at Christmas time.

Born in Indiana, not Kentucky, Harland Sanders dropped out of school after sixth grade. He worked as a railroad laborer and a farm hand, a ferry-boat operator and was fired for insubordination as an insurance salesman. Through a correspondence course, he became an attorney but was disbarred for assaulting one of his clients. During the Great Depression he accepted an offer for a Shell service station in Corbin, Kentucky in exchange for a share of the profits. Although he had no experience as a cook, he began serving steaks, country ham and fried chicken, in the residence attached to the station. He was so successful that the the governor named him an honorary Kentucky Colonel.

The 1950s brought a new interstate highway that all but eliminated traffic passing by the restaurant, forcing Sanders to close. He hit the road in a Cadillac with his face painted on it, calling on restaurants to sell them his secret recipe for “Kentucky Fried Chicken.” He adopted his Colonel Sanders persona with a wardrobe of white suits and beard and mustache bleached to match his white hair. Sanders sold Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1964 but stayed on as “goodwill ambassador.” (The Speck Restaurants were the purveyors of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Portland.)

During the ‘70s and ‘80s the chicken franchisor re-branded itself as “KFC,” to broaden its geography from Kentucky and de-emphasize the fried to a presumably health-conscious consumer. Ironically, KFC Japan rolled out its “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” (“Kentucky for Christmas!”) campaign in 1974. In the ensuing four decades, with images of Colonel Sanders dressed in red as “Santa-san” in all the restaurants, KFC became the Christmas meal for Japanese families gathering to celebrate the holiday.

Relentless promotion drove the growth of struggling KFC Japan and brought it prosperity and a firm position in Japanese culture.

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