
Japan Is Obsessed with Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas (2012) - coloneltcb
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-japan-is-obsessed-with-kentucky-fried-chicken-on-christmas-1-161666960/?no-ist
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hkmurakami
Japan is the master of Capitalism driven consumerization of Western holidays.
Christmas is one (Cake + KFC), Valentines day (chocolate) is another. They
invented "White Day" for 3/14 for men who receive Valentines day chocolates to
give gifts to women in return (often quoted as being 3x the price of the
chocolate received).

In recent times, they've succeeded in making Halloween a commercial "get out
and buy costumes and party" bonanza (well I guess this is similar to what we
have in the states).

Now, if only they could harness some of this prowess into international
marketing... ;)

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ck2
Yet I don't think Japan has "black friday" the ultimate consumerism "holiday".

The UK got it first and people are already rejecting it apparently.

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hkmurakami
They now have Cyber Monday on Amazon though!

Also there is a New Years Sale tradition that is very similar to Black Friday
with the mad rushes for bargain items, fights for items (often women for
clothing), "good luck bags" which is basically a lottery for trying to get
lucky with the jackpot items, etc.

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girzel
I love how traditions get skewed as they pass through multi-national/-cultural
lenses. I live in China, and any time I go into a 7-11 around this time of
year they shout at me about "Christmas cakes". After a few half-hearted
explanations on my part about how Christmas doesn't really involve cake
(explaining pudding is just way beyond the pale), I finally figured out that
the Chinese 7-11s are all run by a Japanese company (which explains why
they're efficient and not depressing), and that the Japanese have decided that
"Christmas cake" is a thing. And so, the Chinese have followed suit. You have
to hand it to the Japanese -- they may transform your traditions into
something unrecognizable, but they do it so thoroughly that you often start to
suspect your own memory...

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radicalbyte
Don't you have Xmas cake in the US?

Do you have wedding cake? I.e. a heavy fruit cake which has been soaked in
port/sherry/rum/whisky and then decorated with marzipan and royal icing?

Xmas cake is the same thing.

It's part of the English (i.e. British) tradition, and probably spread to the
colonies and trading partners. Which would explain it being known in China.

We also have Xmas Pudding, which is a similar fruity better but it's steamed
and served with the thickest cream you can find (which in my youth was clotted
cream).

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mratzloff
Americans would think of something completely different if you mentioned
"wedding cake". A stereotypical one would be:

[http://uwebus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/small-
wedding-c...](http://uwebus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/small-wedding-
cakes-of-flawless-wedding-cakes-wedding-cakes-mesmerizing-cupcakes-wedding-
ideas-plus-small.jpg)

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megablast
Yes, that is right. Xmas cake is the fruit cake often found inside the wedding
cake.

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ChristianGeek
U.S. wedding cakes do not have fruitcake inside them.

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thingamarobert
And Sweden is with Donald Duck.

[http://www.npr.org/2014/12/24/372940340/how-donald-duck-
help...](http://www.npr.org/2014/12/24/372940340/how-donald-duck-helps-swedes-
celebrate-christmas)

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taivare
The Swedes have a Christmas sausage , called Korv ( potatoe sausage ). .really
good ! I had an Italian butcher make it for me on Christmas . . he asked me if
he could copy the recipe . . I obliged , later in the summer I went in and he
was selling ' Korv ' , I told him the Swedes usually only eat ' Korv ' at
Christmas , he said they ( customer's ) love it !

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lokedhs
You do know that "korv" is simply the Swedish word for "sausage" right?

What you had was probably "Potatiskorv" or "Potato Sausage":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potatiskorv](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potatiskorv)

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phuriku
I work for a Japanese tech company, and I can't tell you how often I've been
fed KFC or Christmas cake at the year-end gathering of my various social
circles. The Western media exaggerates almost all of its news about Japan, but
this is a case where the obsession is real.

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bemmu
Aren't all holiday traditions rather arbitrary? I live in Japan and considered
some things odd at first, but usually they are just different but equally
valid ways to do things.

This short TED talk from Derek Sivers illustrates it nicely
[https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_weird_or_just_differe...](https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_weird_or_just_different?language=en)

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euske
Search YouTube with keywords like "KFC クリスマス" and you'll see a whole bunch of
Japanese KFC commercials for Christmas.

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sdrothrock
One of the points that stuck out to me the most was the exchange rate and how
it's changed:

> Today the christmas chicken dinner (which now boasts cake and champagne)
> goes for about 3,336 yen ($40).

Nowadays, 3336 JPY is only around $28 USD. Quite a change for three short
years. We feel it here, too.

