Christmas in a foodies' paradise

Japan is a culinary delight. There are many restaurants with Michelin stars. It's a country where ramen shops can command hours-long waits, and where entire floors of department stores are devoted to specialty food. If you take a domestic trip, you are expected to return to your office with omiyage—souvenir treats specific to a region. So one might expect Christmastime to be a season of decadent food. But actually, Christmas is when you get a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken [KFC]. 

People start placing orders as early as November, and if you are hoping to pop around the corner to pick up a family pack, you will be out of luck. The fried chicken, cakes and everything else at the fast-food chain sell out far in advance of December 25th. 

According to TimeOut magazine, Japan's curious holiday tradition can be traced back to Takeshi Okawara, the enterprising manager to Japan's first KFC storefront. The slogan "Kentucky is Christmas" launched in 1974, and since then the trend has taken off. A third of KFC's domestic business is now conducted around the holidays.