There is a small Japanese home goods shop in Little Italy that I frequent; so much so that the owner knows me quite well. This afternoon we were chatting as he rang up my purchases and he remarked that the Japanese love to celebrate Christmas. And in particular they celebrate by ordering buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, so much so that you have to place an order—a month in advance—with the fast food chain to ensure you are eating fried chicken on the big day. I asked if it was just fried chicken in general but he said no, it’s specifically Kentucky Fried Chicken.
He also said KFC tastes considerably better in Japan, for some reason. And that the Japanese knew little of Christmas’ origin stories, in particular the religious ones that the American holiday so often gets freighted with.
On a related note, in 2014 Stewart, my parents and I went to Colonel Sanders’ gravesite in Louisville, with a bucket of KFC in his honor:
