Happy Christmas, Japan-Style!

Some of you know that as you read this, we are back in the US celebrating Christmas with family.  I scheduled this post to go out back in early November because that's when the Christmas catalogs started appearing.  No, I don't mean toy catalogs.  I'm referring to the catalogs that supermarkets and convenience stores put out with all the food you can order for the holidays.  I didn't do this post last year because I wanted to wait until we actually had some experience with ordering the holiday food, but at the rate we're going we'll never actually be here at Christmas.  So here it is.

You may have heard about how Japanese people go to Kentucky Fried Chicken for their Christmas dinner.  It's true, many years ago KFC was the closest you could get to an American holiday-type meal here and the KFC advertisers took diabolical advantage of it by convincing the Japanese that everyone in the US eats restaurant fried chicken at Christmas.  And since Christmas is only celebrated as a fun, secular, western holiday here, they believed it.   So as it nears Christmas you'll see a sign-up sheet outside KFC where people sign up for their holiday meal.  When you try to explain to a Japanese person the reality of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce they just get kinda confused.  As far as I can tell turkey isn't a very popular meat here although you can find a few Butterballs at Costco and you can order them online through the Foreign Buyer's Club.

last year's KFC sign-up sheet and advertising

The other food you have to have at Christmas is cake.  Most supermarkets and bakeries do a booming business selling elaborate cakes that you pre-order and then pick up at Christmas.  They have catalogs that you can get in November with all the cake options listed. 

By far the most fun is the 7-Eleven catalog.  Now, this seems like a pretty ghetto place to get your Christmas food, but I'm not sure if that holds true for the Japanese people.  It does seem like more people go to the supermarket and do their ordering, based on the crowds.  Anyway, we always pick up a 7-11 catalog for sheer entertainment value.

I particularly like this year's catalog cover because it depicts a little scene of Christmas houses.  Notice that the houses are western (including a church), the little people are Japanese, there are dudes running across the roofs and a half-dressed lady is hanging out an upper window.    And, of course, a 7-11 is prominently featured.

The hugely famous pop group AKB48 is prominently featured in the 7-11 catalogs. 

I particularly like their exclamations over the chocolate fountain. (BTW, wouldn't a chocolate fountain be awesome at Christmas dinner?  Who needs pie?)

Here's your roast chicken, sandwich tray and wine options....

 And your cake, which can run anywhere from $20 - $70.  I'm not sure how much the cakes are at supermarkets and bakeries but I'm betting they're more.

So if you're sitting around with your family over the holidays, trying to figure out what to eat, pretend you're in Japan and get some KFC and cake! :)  Happy Holidays!!