Most of the Japanese are associated Christmas with KFC. Japanese people make a line to buy fried chicken during the Christmas season every year, which has become like an annual event. According to KFC Holdings Japan Ltd., the sales of its fried chicken between December 21th and 25th recorded 6.9 billion yen in 2018 which was the highest sales in the past years. How did KFC take the centre position in Japan’s Christmas market?
In the 1960s, Japan went into rapid economic growth, because of which people could afford to consume luxury goods. The culture that Japan was (is) willing to introduce was (is) American one. People tended to choose western fashion and food. People believed that becoming like the United States meant that Japan could join in one of the industrial/advanced countries.
At that time, Japan did not have a culture to celebrate Christmas with family because of the less Christian population. The company that targeted it was KFC, and KFC entered the Japanese market. In 1974, KFC started special set meals with the advertisement, “KFC fried chicken on Christmas day”, and its Christmas song.
Eating chickens has become one of a ritual on Christmas in Japan, as recently some convenience stores and even sushi restaurants have released Christmas fried chickens, however, KFC still have a lot of fans.
Reference: フライドチキンが「日本のクリスマスの伝統」になった理由 retrieved from CNN.co.jp
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