Fried Chicken Day (Furaido Chikin no Hi)

What Is Fried Chicken Day?

On November 21, 1970, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant in Japan, the Meisei store, opened inside the Diamond City Meisei Shopping Center in Nishi Ward, Nagoya. November 21 is known as "Fried Chicken Day" after that opening. The day was established by Japan KFC Holdings Co., Ltd., which runs Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan, and is registered with the Japan Anniversary Association. The second store opened on November 27 in a shopping center in Higashisumiyoshi Ward, Osaka, in a building moved there from the Japan World Exposition.

How KFC Japan Began

KFC Japan's story started at Expo '70 in Osaka. An experimental store opened at the fair in March reportedly took in as much as 2.8 million yen in a single day. In July, Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan was founded with capital of 72 million yen, in a 50-50 investment by the American Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.

• November 1970: the first store, Meisei, opened in Nishi Ward, Nagoya
• September 1971: the first franchise store opened in Fujisawa, Kanagawa (Enoshima store)
• October 1972: founder Colonel Sanders visited Japan for the first time, and came again in 1978 and 1980
• 1973: TV commercials began in October, and the Akasaka store became the 100th store in December
• 1977: the Kumegawa store opened, the first drive-through of a Japanese fast-food chain

Colonel Sanders and "Kentucky for Christmas"

Founder Harland Sanders reportedly lost everything at 65, then took his fried chicken recipe to restaurants across the US and got his first contract on the 1,010th try. "Colonel" is not a military rank but an honorary title granted by the state of Kentucky. KFC Japan ran its first Christmas campaign in December 1974, and since that same year it has held a "Chicken Thanksgiving" every June at Higashi-Fushimi Inari Shrine and Sumiyoshi Taisha to give thanks to the chickens. There are several accounts of how it began: one says foreign customers who could not get turkey bought chicken instead, and another says Takeshi Okawara, who later became president, was asked around 1973 to help with a kindergarten Christmas party, after which orders from schools grew by word of mouth. In 1985 the "Party Barrel," which packs cake, salad, and chicken in a barrel-shaped container, also appeared. NHK's cooking show "Kyo no Ryori" had already featured roast chicken for Christmas in 1959 and fried chicken in 1967, before KFC came to Japan.

Tips for Marking This Day

• Have fried chicken from KFC or a local chicken restaurant for lunch or dinner
• Share trivia as small talk, such as "the first store opened in Nagoya" or "the Expo test store sold 2.8 million yen in a day"
• Tell the story of Colonel Sanders, who took on a new challenge at 65, at a morning meeting or in a newsletter
• Make fried chicken at home and compare flavors with family or friends

Japan's Chicken Culture, Started From One Store

KFC, which began with that first Nagoya store, is now a familiar part of Christmas in Japan. November 21 is a day to remember the opening where it all began.