>>2239
I asked some of the locals about where it came from. Most seemed to agree it was because of the Japanese love of American movies. They tend to be a few decades behind America in regards to its cultural trends, so in the 70s and 80s, they were watching classic Christmas movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart and the like. A constant trope they saw was a family sitting down for a Christmas dinner with turkey and they wanted to experience it for themselves. Unfortunately, Japan does not have turkeys, so a dinner with chicken was the next best thing. In a masterstroke of advertising, KFC in the 80s ran with the advertising slogan 「クリスマスにはケンタッキー！」- "Kentucky for Christmas!" It was so successful that it became a tradition for family and romantic couples and other businesses, like Famimart or Lawson, started copying the trend of offering southern fried chicken for Christmas. The demand was so great that I had to put in the order 2 weeks in advance, and even then the expensive items, where you'd get a shrimp casserole and a berry tiramasu, were already sold out. This place really doesn't seem real at times.