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Every year as Christmas approaches in Japan many students and the gsingleh crowd get excited. Students begin asking your Christmas eve plans, which is indirectly asking whether or not you have a special someone.
In Japan, Christmas is for couples and New Year's is for family. According to a survey on the internet, 331 out of 474 Japanese students expressed their desire to spend time with their partners on Christmas eve. In Japan, all the shops and stores are open on Christmas, and it is a very lucrative day for business.
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There are two things that many Japanese must have to celebrate Christmas: KFC and a Christmas cake.
Eating chicken and cake at Christmas has become somewhat of a ritual in Japan to an extent that extraordinary ways to celebrate have developed. For example, some stores sell gourmet $800 Christmas chickens and Christmas cakes for pets. Maybe you don't want to go that far, but if you'd like to experience Christmas Japanese-style, all you need is KFC and a Christmas cake.
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The tradition of eating KFC during Christmas has been gaining popularity in Japan since the 1970's. One Christmas, some American customers visited KFC to buy chicken. Taking that as a hint, KFC started to market Christmas chickens as one of their strategies, which has been successful so far. Similarly, using Christmas as a strategic platform a national baking company, Fujiya, began marketing Christmas cakes. The promotion of Christmas cakes was a success and the practice continues to this day.
December 20, 2008
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Written by Daiki Odagawa (Junior)
Photographs by Yusuke Koizumi (Sophomore)
College of Business, Rikkyo University (Tokyo)
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