You might think it a scene from Mad Men, a Western fast-food spin doctor somehow convinces a completely different people that not only do they need American fried chicken, but they need it on a holiday that doesn’t even show up on their culture’s calendar.
The story goes—and this has been a story sworn by the highest of KFC corporate spokespeople–that Takeshi Okawara, the manager of the first KFC in Japan, had a dream in 1970 that Christmas + a bucket of Chicken + Japan would someday go hand-in-hand. Some day he was clairvoyant, others say he overheard an American solider mentioning he couldn’t find turkey for Thanksgiving and that chicken was the next best thing.
Another completely different story has a Mitsubishi executive tasting it in America and bringing it (not sure) back with the idea of expending the Colonel’s empire.
And yet one more piece of folklore has a customer simply asking if he could pay an employee to dress up like a “Christmas Colonel Sanders” and deliver the food to his workplace.
Whatever the motive, meaning or simply a brilliant marketing ploy, it worked, as now, the December line to reserve your family a “party barrel” is normally out the door… and sometimes around the block.
But to understand the Rising Sun’s allure of the South, a viewing of the 1981 documentary “Colonel Comes To Japan” is helpful—showcasing the fast-food’s pivot into an elegant and luxurious fare. Candles and fine sliver flank the eight pieces of pressure-cooked—mentioned primarily as the machine itself is shown off as if it were a sportscar—meats.
And with an average of $60+ million made between Dec 01-Dec 20th over the past 10 years, it doesn’t show signs of stopping.
Ever.
