San Francisco Frontiers - KFC readies finger-licking Japanese Christmas

"Reservations for KFC Christmas typically begin around the beginning of November," Takuma Kawamura, a KFC marketing manager, told AFP at a new upmarket pop-up eatery in Tokyo.

"From that time, stores with the Colonel statue will dress him in Christmas attire," he said, referring to KFC's late founder Colonel Sanders, a widely recognised figure in Japan.

Japan has a tiny Christian majority and Christmas is a secular festival of full-bore consumerism complete with Santa, gifts and streetlights. Couples often go on dates on Christmas Eve.

For food, families often gorge themselves on special "Party Barrels" bursting with chicken, an array of side dishes and a dessert -- such as ice cream or cheesecake -- stored at the bottom in a separate compartment.

December 24 -- Christmas Eve -- is KFC Japan's busiest day by far, with 10 times more customers than normal, the firm said in 2020. Reportedly 3.6 million families make orders.

The first KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974 and there are different theories about the origins.

These include that Takeshi Okawara, the manager of Japan's first KFC outlet, overheard foreigners pining for turkey, which is often eaten at Christmas in Britain and the United States.

Colonel Sanders, who died in 1980, has also entered into baseball folklore in Japan.

This was because fans -- many of whom also jumped in the dirty Dotonbori waterway -- thought the statue resembled Randy Bass, an American member of the team at the time.

But the dunking spawned the legend of the "Curse of the Colonel" that said the Tigers would never win another title until the effigy was recovered.

The sludge-covered statue was dredged out in 2009, cleaned up and put on display, but it took until 2023 for the Tigers finally to win the championship again.

The plastic Colonel was finally disposed of last year following a ritual at a temple attended by KFC's Japan president, who offered sake and fried chicken.

Z.Sanchez--SFF