That's brilliant marketing: find a cultural event that doesn't have established traditions in an area, and fill the void with your product. I wonder what might be some cultural vacuums waiting to be filled in the United States... I suppose one example might be how big Cinco de Mayo is in the US, and its association with margaritas.
If your marketing is already centered around a white-bearded Western guy in a suit, making the connection to Santa Claus seems almost natural in hindsight.
Maybe micro-celebrity personality cults, where micro-communities develop a design language that only has meaning within their bubble, and they practice consumer rituals around their idol's birthday, for example.
There's a great videographer on YouTube named Chris Broad who moved to Japan and has been living there for something like 10 years now. He does a show called "Abroad in Japan"
He did a great video on this topic which is worth checking out (as well is all his other content for those interested in Japanese culture!)
I have some Japanese friends that never could explain me this tradition. I always thought that it was introduced by some American navy/soldiers that while stationed in Japan wanted to celebrate Christmas, and the only western restaurant in the city/region that they could find, was a KFC.. I still think my theory/urban legend is way better ;)
“Those whacky Japanese” is a perennial category of bus-plunge journalism.
It only seems odd if you don’t think about it much. Americans don’t think Honey Baked Ham or Boston Market on a holiday is weird though both are franchises and Boston Market was formerly a McDonalds brand.
Try to book a table at Outback on Valentines (or even get seated at Applebee’s).
And while Americans have good cause to celebrate Benito Juarez saving their bacon by stopping the French while Americans were busy killing each other from fixed positions in the Civil War, Taco Bell chalupa combo boxes with a forty ounce no ice Mountain Dew doesn’t really align with Cinco de Mayo any better than extra crispy at xmas.
> “Those whacky Japanese” is a perennial category of bus-plunge journalism.
Perhaps, but this isn't one of those stories. There's a genuinely interesting history to how KFC became a Japanese Christmas staple - well, I found it interesting, at least.
I'm American and I've never heard of Boston Market for Christmas, and it doesn't exist where I grew up, or in the region, and I would definitely think it was weird if someone wanted that for Christmas. I've never even heard of a franchise chain called Honey Baked. Are you from California or something? Why do people think Americans are a monolith?
Where I'm from everything is closed on Christmas, even Wal-Mart, except the local Chinese takeout, so if you don't want home cooking, that's your one option.
Now, living in a larger area, there are some other limited options but as a seventh generation European descended American I have never known a single family that celebrated Christmas by going to a franchise restaurant
so the British Broadcasting Company wrote an article about some trivia regarding Japan, so you feel the compulsion to remind everyone that the United States 'is wacky too'.
Problem is that TFA never called anyone wacky; they didn't try to pass judgment at all -- and the United States wasn't ever involved in either side until you injected them into it , unless you blame the country for KFC all together? I don't follow.
Surely there must be some behavior you find strange from Britain ; you know -- the originator of the article -- without trying to loop around the world to drag another country through the mud?
> “Those whacky Japanese” is a perennial category of bus-plunge journalism.
'bus-plunge journalism' isn't only about needlessly expanding nothing stories into pages, it also includes a level of exaggeration. I guess you could say the headline is exaggerated because it's not the entirety of Japan that celebrates with KFC? Feels like yak-shaving, most assume that headlines don't apply universally to entire countries full of people.
> Americans don’t think Honey Baked Ham or Boston Market on a holiday is weird
(as an American I do.. but who cares, let's look at the numbers)
The Honey Baked Ham Company says that it services about 2.5 million customers between Thanksgiving to New Years, meaning that the KFC phenomenon in Japan is significantly stronger, given that TFA states that 3.5 million families purchase KFC for Christmas in Japan.
Smaller time frames, smaller country, more sales; seemingly stronger trend.
Now I want the BBC to publish the article “Why Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Taco Bell chalupa combo boxes with a forty ounce no ice Mountain Dew”
As others have mentioned both Honey Baked Ham and Boston Market serve what's come to be Thanksgiving/Christmas meal staples.
Every restaurant is packed for Valentines. It's a big date night. Going out on a date means going out to eat. There's nothing specific to Outback about going there on Valentines, that's just where some portion of people go. Same with Applebees.
And while Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo is odd, it's not a uniquely Taco Bell thing. Any vaguely Mexican adjacent business will advertise around it.
This mashup of KFC and Christmas is a very brand specific thing unique to that country.
Japan gets more flak because it's physical and historical isolation plus high cultural homogeneity have resulted in unique societal quirks.
Going to western Europe feels like the US. Going to Japan from the west still feels like traveling the world once did. Its unique culture is appreciated worldwide, even from closest neighbors.
They had smartphones almost a decade before we did. They had high speed rail before anyone else . Manga and anime are now worldwide, but they were born in Japan. Kawaii has spread to south Korea and to some extent the west, but it was born in Japan. Hanko instead of signatures is unique. Bowing. Onsen. Sumo. Vending machines. Much of the food... There's countless examples.
We're should be celebrating human uniqueness, Japan is a special place
Christmas in Japan was pitched by retailers as a fun way to spend your year-end bonus.
Similarly, Valentine's Day was pitched by chocolate companies as a time to buy chocolates for your sweetheart. There are actually two such days: on Valentine's Day women give chocolates to their sweethearts, while on White Day (March 14), said sweethearts return the favor.
Japanese people are starting to do things for Halloween. I am not sure what the marketing story is behind that.
Somewhere in the past archives there's also a link to a good article on Col. Harlan Sanders, his life, and his struggles against the corporation that bought him out.
"There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players' names, and with every name, a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking a Caucasian person to imitate MVP Randy Bass, the rabid crowd seized a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.
According to the urban legend, this impulsive maneuver cost the team greatly, beginning the Curse of the Colonel, which states that the Tigers will not win the championship again until the statue is recovered. Subsequently, numerous attempts had been made to recover the statue, often as part of a variety TV show."
It's worth noting that KFC in other countries is often better than the greasy mess we typically find in the US. Same with McDonald's in my experience as well.
I do not understand "KFC" as a business model; in the southern USA they have competition (every gas station has fried chicken), and the KFC chain seems to be dedicated to providing the worst food and the worst service in the market.
For the last 20 years or more, the KFC nearest to me has been known to the locals as a place to avoid at all costs. They've had 2 periods of revival, in the month after new owners took over, neither lasted more than a month or so. The default state is under cooked food, high prices, and shitty service. They have a policy of shorting orders and shorting change; it must be policy, random error would happen in the customers' favor sometimes.
I'd suspect they were a cover for some illegal activity, but if they are its happening at some higher level that I cannot perceive.
Can’t agree more. Chinese branch of KFC/McDonalds not only has many delicious specials you can’t find outside China, even the basic fried chicken is much more juicy and flavorful. I can only find similar fried chicken in some very niche brands in US.
In this particular case though it is quite strange to me. Between katsu and tenpura, the Japanese are expert at fried food, in which they place peculiar importance on the lightness/crispiness. I tried KFC in Japan and it's mostly the same as anywhere else, a greasy mess.
When I lived in New Zealand for a year, one day my friends at school wanted to sneak out during lunch to go to KFC (which there they market as "kiwi for chicken"). This was something you'd not hear American high school students say, at least in California. However, it was significantly better tasting. Not mind blowing or anything, but pretty decent.
As a US-living Japanese, I was deeply disappointed when I stopped by a KFC on a Christmas day (not as planned, but just for curiosity.) Even though it's not for everyone as other comment suggests (KFC density in Japan isn't prepared for that.) It's still something. Here in US it's nothing!
Note that it's not that common to see roast chicken in grocery stores in Japan. So KFC isn't the worst option if you crave chicken for some reason.
> While millions do celebrate Christmas with KFC, others in Japan treat it as a romantic holiday similar to Valentine’s Day, and couples mark the occasion with dinner in upscale restaurants. For other Japanese families, Christmas is acknowledged but not celebrated in any particular way.
It seems strange at first, but it makes sense when you consider only about 1.5% of Japanese people are Christians. Christmas as we know it in countries with a Christian majority doesn't mean much to them.
I'm pretty sure this is objectively not true. Christmas is only a religious holiday if you're already religious, and even then, you're ignoring the fact that today's "Christmas" is mostly an assemblage of traditions "borrowed" from other earlier religions.
To a lot of people (and I tentatively claim most people, probably) Christmas is either a mostly or entirely secular holiday, celebrating family and the coming of lighter days after the winter solstice, the southern hemisphere notwithstanding.
The real story is, most people in Japan don't bother to eat KFC on Christmas. I never did. It's just KFC spend money on ads in Christmas. It goes the same for Valentine's day(to gift chocolate) or Halloween(cosplay) or whatever foreign culture marketing people felt exotic and fresh to shove it to the general mass.
That's funny: in my family we have a similar tradition for Pâques : when I was young my mother would spend a lot of time cooking but now we usually order sushi: we enjoys more the family reunion without having to spend half a day (at least) cooking..
Another Japanese Christmas classic is the song Christmas Eve by Tatsuro Yamashita, it was used in a romantic Japan Railways campaign in the 90s and it's still pretty popular.
JasonFruit|4 years ago
mbg721|4 years ago
smhost|4 years ago
pull_my_finger|4 years ago
xwdv|4 years ago
[deleted]
warent|4 years ago
He did a great video on this topic which is worth checking out (as well is all his other content for those interested in Japanese culture!)
https://youtu.be/Pp6ggz_uwWE
croes|4 years ago
dopidopHN|4 years ago
cunthorpe|4 years ago
pelasaco|4 years ago
hulitu|4 years ago
brudgers|4 years ago
It only seems odd if you don’t think about it much. Americans don’t think Honey Baked Ham or Boston Market on a holiday is weird though both are franchises and Boston Market was formerly a McDonalds brand.
Try to book a table at Outback on Valentines (or even get seated at Applebee’s).
And while Americans have good cause to celebrate Benito Juarez saving their bacon by stopping the French while Americans were busy killing each other from fixed positions in the Civil War, Taco Bell chalupa combo boxes with a forty ounce no ice Mountain Dew doesn’t really align with Cinco de Mayo any better than extra crispy at xmas.
Every body is whacky.
Angostura|4 years ago
Perhaps, but this isn't one of those stories. There's a genuinely interesting history to how KFC became a Japanese Christmas staple - well, I found it interesting, at least.
bbbbdddgbb|4 years ago
Where I'm from everything is closed on Christmas, even Wal-Mart, except the local Chinese takeout, so if you don't want home cooking, that's your one option.
Now, living in a larger area, there are some other limited options but as a seventh generation European descended American I have never known a single family that celebrated Christmas by going to a franchise restaurant
serf|4 years ago
Problem is that TFA never called anyone wacky; they didn't try to pass judgment at all -- and the United States wasn't ever involved in either side until you injected them into it , unless you blame the country for KFC all together? I don't follow.
Surely there must be some behavior you find strange from Britain ; you know -- the originator of the article -- without trying to loop around the world to drag another country through the mud?
> “Those whacky Japanese” is a perennial category of bus-plunge journalism.
'bus-plunge journalism' isn't only about needlessly expanding nothing stories into pages, it also includes a level of exaggeration. I guess you could say the headline is exaggerated because it's not the entirety of Japan that celebrates with KFC? Feels like yak-shaving, most assume that headlines don't apply universally to entire countries full of people.
> Americans don’t think Honey Baked Ham or Boston Market on a holiday is weird
(as an American I do.. but who cares, let's look at the numbers)
The Honey Baked Ham Company says that it services about 2.5 million customers between Thanksgiving to New Years, meaning that the KFC phenomenon in Japan is significantly stronger, given that TFA states that 3.5 million families purchase KFC for Christmas in Japan.
Smaller time frames, smaller country, more sales; seemingly stronger trend.
uranusjr|4 years ago
bena|4 years ago
Every restaurant is packed for Valentines. It's a big date night. Going out on a date means going out to eat. There's nothing specific to Outback about going there on Valentines, that's just where some portion of people go. Same with Applebees.
And while Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo is odd, it's not a uniquely Taco Bell thing. Any vaguely Mexican adjacent business will advertise around it.
This mashup of KFC and Christmas is a very brand specific thing unique to that country.
whateveracct|4 years ago
Klonoar|4 years ago
Your screenshots folder will be filled within a few weeks. ;P
deviledeggs|4 years ago
Going to western Europe feels like the US. Going to Japan from the west still feels like traveling the world once did. Its unique culture is appreciated worldwide, even from closest neighbors.
They had smartphones almost a decade before we did. They had high speed rail before anyone else . Manga and anime are now worldwide, but they were born in Japan. Kawaii has spread to south Korea and to some extent the west, but it was born in Japan. Hanko instead of signatures is unique. Bowing. Onsen. Sumo. Vending machines. Much of the food... There's countless examples.
We're should be celebrating human uniqueness, Japan is a special place
bitwize|4 years ago
Similarly, Valentine's Day was pitched by chocolate companies as a time to buy chocolates for your sweetheart. There are actually two such days: on Valentine's Day women give chocolates to their sweethearts, while on White Day (March 14), said sweethearts return the favor.
Japanese people are starting to do things for Halloween. I am not sure what the marketing story is behind that.
dcsan|4 years ago
dang|4 years ago
Japan Celebrates Christmas with KFC - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16002210 - Dec 2017 (9 comments)
cheaprentalyeti|4 years ago
krapp|4 years ago
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Colonel
ypeterholmes|4 years ago
"There, an assemblage of supporters yelled the players' names, and with every name, a fan resembling a member of the victorious team leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. However, lacking a Caucasian person to imitate MVP Randy Bass, the rabid crowd seized a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders (like Bass, the Colonel had a beard and was not Japanese) from a nearby KFC and tossed it off the bridge as an effigy.
According to the urban legend, this impulsive maneuver cost the team greatly, beginning the Curse of the Colonel, which states that the Tigers will not win the championship again until the statue is recovered. Subsequently, numerous attempts had been made to recover the statue, often as part of a variety TV show."
axaxs|4 years ago
h2odragon|4 years ago
For the last 20 years or more, the KFC nearest to me has been known to the locals as a place to avoid at all costs. They've had 2 periods of revival, in the month after new owners took over, neither lasted more than a month or so. The default state is under cooked food, high prices, and shitty service. They have a policy of shorting orders and shorting change; it must be policy, random error would happen in the customers' favor sometimes.
I'd suspect they were a cover for some illegal activity, but if they are its happening at some higher level that I cannot perceive.
izgzhen|4 years ago
leppr|4 years ago
eplanit|4 years ago
nebula8804|4 years ago
ravenstine|4 years ago
BrandoElFollito|4 years ago
city41|4 years ago
jmkni|4 years ago
It’s definitely not good for you, but it’s tasty.
flakiness|4 years ago
Note that it's not that common to see roast chicken in grocery stores in Japan. So KFC isn't the worst option if you crave chicken for some reason.
mkl95|4 years ago
It seems strange at first, but it makes sense when you consider only about 1.5% of Japanese people are Christians. Christmas as we know it in countries with a Christian majority doesn't mean much to them.
LeoPanthera|4 years ago
To a lot of people (and I tentatively claim most people, probably) Christmas is either a mostly or entirely secular holiday, celebrating family and the coming of lighter days after the winter solstice, the southern hemisphere notwithstanding.
chrisseaton|4 years ago
Why would it seem strange at first that a country that isn’t very Christian would not celebrate Christmas? Why would they?
ezoe|4 years ago
glandium|4 years ago
renox|4 years ago
ad404b8a372f2b9|4 years ago
Black101|4 years ago
Christmas here too was a marketing campaign gone wrong.
tpmx|4 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas#Introduction_of_the_...
xu_ituairo|4 years ago