Content provided by British Council
Read the following text and answer the quiz below.
[1] In Japan, KFC is gearing up for a special Christmas tradition. Millions of families will flock to the US fast-food chain for festive buckets of deep-fried chicken and other treats. “Reservations for KFC Christmas typically begin around the beginning of November,” Takuma Kawamura said. He is a KFC marketing manager.
[2] “Stores with the Colonel statue will dress him in Christmas attire,” he noted. KFC’s late founder, Colonel Sanders, is a widely recognised figure in Japan. There are very few Christians in Japan, and Christmas is not a religious holiday. Instead, the festival is focused on Santa, gifts and street lights. Couples often go on dates on Christmas Eve.
[3] Families gorge on special “Party Barrels” bursting with chicken, an array of side dishes and a dessert, such as ice cream or cheesecake. This is stored at the bottom of the bucket in a separate compartment. December 24, Christmas Eve, is KFC Japan’s busiest day by far, with 10 times more customers than normal, the firm said in 2020. Around 3.6 million families make orders.
[4] Japan’s first national KFC Christmas campaign was in 1974. There are different theories about its origins. These include Takeshi Okawara, the manager of Japan’s first KFC outlet, overhearing foreigners pining for turkey, which is eaten at Christmas in other places.
[5] Colonel Sanders has also entered baseball folklore in Japan. In 1985, Hanshin Tigers supporters threw a plastic statue of the Colonel from a KFC restaurant into a river in Osaka on their way to Japan’s version of the World Series. This was because fans thought the statue resembled Randy Bass, an American member of the team at the time. Many also jumped into the dirty Dotonbori waterway.
[6] The dunking spawned the “Curse of the Colonel” legend. It said the Tigers would never win another title until the effigy was recovered. The sludge-covered statue was dredged out in 2009, cleaned up and put on display. It took until 2023 for the Tigers to finally win the championship again. The plastic Colonel was finally disposed of last year following a ritual at a temple. It was attended by KFC’s Japan president, who offered sake and fried chicken.
Source: Agence France-Presse, December 3
