Why Japan loves to celebrate Christmas with fried chicken

When December 25 comes around, queues spill out of every KFC in Tokyo. So when Queenie Shaikh’s visit happened to fall over the festive period, she couldn’t resist joining in to see what all the fuss is about

Queenie headed in search of halal fried chicken while on a trip to Japan over Christmas (Queenie Shaikh)

The scent of miso and fried chicken drifted towards me the moment I stepped out of Takadanobaba station in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. It felt worlds away from central Shinjuku’s neon glare – with its stampede-level crowds and a giant 3D cat that springs out of a billboard every 15 minutes, meowing.

Takadanobaba is comparatively calm, its corners guarded by gently humming vending machines that dispense everything from matcha lattes to jiggly cheesecake. The only real overlap between the two areas is the queues that spill out of their branches of KFC.

It was Christmas Day – my first in a country that didn’t really observe either the religious side of the holiday or adhere to the usual festive fuss. It was simply another working day in Tokyo: people in business attire hurried home, trains were packed with weary commuters, and not a single mulled wine stall was in sight. Yurakucho – just by the Imperial Palace – had attempted a “European Christmas market”, though what stocked its stalls was far from traditional fare, leaning more towards towering plates of okonomiyaki and steaming soba than hot chocolate and overpriced baubles.

A giant digital 3D cat keeps watch of the streets of Shinjuku in Tokyo (Getty)

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While Japan doesn’t do “traditional” Christmas, there is one foodstuff it wholeheartedly adopts at this time of year – and as you’d expect, it isn’t European in the slightest. Instead of turkey, families queue for buckets of fried chicken from KFC, a ritual so entrenched that securing a Christmas meal often requires booking weeks in advance.

The story goes that Takeshi Okawara, who managed Japan’s first KFC, came up with the “Kentucky for Christmas” campaign in the early 1970s after overhearing an expat remark on the absence of turkey in the country and suggesting that fried chicken was the next best festive option. The idea resonated immediately, and gradually it snowballed into a nationwide ritual that continues to shape Japan’s December after five decades.

Perhaps Colonel Sanders bearing more than a passing resemblance to Father Christmas – especially once dressed in red – helped the custom take hold of the concept.

And after years of hearing Japanese friends rave about the country’s devotion to Christmas fried chicken during my university days, a far-flung winter break finally gave me the chance to see the tradition in action.

Though one requirement threw a spanner in the works: halal chicken – something KFC Japan doesn’t offer.

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And even if it had done, I was far too late to place an order. Luckily for me, Takadanobaba has a sizeable and visible Muslim community, shaped largely by its international student population from Waseda University and the many nearby language schools that draw residents from around the world – which meant there were plenty of halal spots happily joining in the fried chicken frenzy.

I made my way through Takadanobaba’s back alleys to Halal Master Chicken, a fried-chicken restaurant with solid Google reviews. Taking the road less familiar, I passed houses strung with fairy lights, lone Christmas trees perched outside tiny homes and, inevitably, more vending machines.

It’s remarkable that, despite Japan’s endless supply of treat-dispensing technology, litter is surprisingly rare – a stark contrast to the average street in London. In fact, there are almost no bins on Japanese roadsides at all, as it’s deeply ingrained in the culture to carry waste home rather than discard it while out and about.

Queenie in Central Shinjuku (Queenie Shaikh)

As I arrived at Halal Master Chicken, a queue was curling out of the restaurant, running neatly between a 7-Eleven on one side of the road and a FamilyMart on the other. A paper sign reading “Christmas fried chicken available here!” hung from the main door, held up by a tired strip of tape. Inside, every orange chair and table was occupied.

Families and friends crowded around their plates, clutching Christmas-themed paper cups and buckets of fried chicken, while a lady in the open-kitchen worked briskly – frying a whole bird in one pan and roasting another on the grill beside her. The smell wafting outside was intoxicating, and my stomach growled in agreement. The ramen I’d eaten earlier felt like a distant memory.

The queue wasn’t made up solely of Muslims waiting for a halal take on Japan’s beloved tradition – plenty of other locals were in line too, some put off by the lack of space in their nearest KFC and others by the cost. A standard Christmas party box (or party barrel as nicknamed by Okawara) at KFC – eight small pieces of chicken, a shrimp gratin and a chocolate cake – comes in at ¥4,580 (£23) when booked in advance.

The queue moved slowly but steadily and, once inside, I flicked through the extensive menu promising chicken in every imaginable form. I settled on two fried pieces, some chips and a drink, but after glancing at the enormous burger on the table nearby, I couldn’t resist adding that to my order as well.

The lady beside me caught my glance lingering on her food and offered a polite smile. I grinned back in sheepish embarrassment, but also took it as a cue to ask a few questions about the ritual and what it signified.

Between mouthfuls, she tells me of the tradition: “We grew up seeing American pop culture celebrate Christmas, and because Japan didn’t historically have its own Christmas traditions, KFC stepped in and set the template for how the holiday could be celebrated here. Maybe it filled a void?”

Queenie tucks into her Christmas fried chicken at Halal Master Chicken in Takadanobaba (Queenie Shaikh)

As well as KFC, she says that local restaurants and grab-and-go meals from 7-Elevens are a popular choice – though those also sell out very quickly in the lead-up to Christmas.

My food arrived in clouds of steam – a huge tray bearing my stacked fried chicken burger topped with a sesame-seed bun, drizzled in honey mustard and tomato sauce, standard thin chips and two beautifully crisp pieces of chicken.

I’d paired it with an iced melon tea, which had quickly become my favourite drink in Japan. The serving was so enormous it was almost impossible to get a proper bite in, but once I managed it, the sense of internal satisfaction was unmatched. If I hadn’t known better, I could easily have mistaken it for KFC.

The lone lady managing both the kitchen and the crowds hurried over with a stack of tissues after noticing the sauces escaping from the corners of my mouth. I asked whether Christmas was always this busy for her.

“It certainly is our busiest time,” she said, switching between English and animated hand gestures. “We get so many families and groups – everyone’s in a good mood, and they all want their Christmas chicken, so it’s a fun day for us.”

I nodded. The place was heaving – every table filled with people happily working through their own version of Christmas chicken. Across the road, another fried chicken shop had a small crowd forming outside.

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It couldn’t have been further from a British Christmas – no turkey, no Brussels sprouts (a blessing, frankly) – yet people from across Tokyo, from different cultures, backgrounds and religions, had gathered to celebrate in their own way, much as we do back home. And in a country that doesn’t officially observe Christmas as a religious or cultural holiday, Japan still manages to make it feel magical, with fried chicken somehow at the centre of it all.