Kentucky Christmas

A while back at a party, someone mentioned to me that the traditional Christmas meal in Japan is none other than Kentucky Fried Chicken (or simply "Kentucky" as it is called here). At the time I refused to believe it, as it just seemed a bit too ridiculous. However, after asking a number of people at my office, I have determined that it is indeed true, at least in many families. This article goes into a few of the reasons as to why, chief among them being that the average Japanese kitchen is woefully inadequate when it comes to the preparation of western-style foods. So, for the entire month of December, Japanese viewers are subjected to constant "Kentucky Christmas" commercials (last night, I saw the exact same KFC commercial played back-to-back, on more than one occasion) that feature happy couples brought together on Christmas by the magic of fried chicken. This is in keeping with the Japanese idea that Christmas is a holiday that is generally celebrated by couples (children are already given presents on shogatsu or new year's day). As you might have caught from one of my previous posts, Christmas has no religious significance in Japan, so with that messy business out of the picture, corporations are free to invent their own traditions.

Well, I had originally planned a tour of Hachinohe-area KFCs last night, in order to properly document the infamously long lines on Christmas Eve. But then I got lazy. So all you get is a photo of Leo posing humorously in front of Colonel Sanders instead. Merry Christmas.