Saturday, December 27, 2008

Have yourself a Kentucky Little Christmas

Now, strange as that may seem, Kentucky Fried Chicken has pulled off an amazing feat of marketing. They have convinced the whole of the Japanese people that Fried Chicken is the traditional Christmas Dinner. The Ads are a little surreal, the happy smiling couple, the excited kids, tearing into a paper board box of chicken fingers. Then there's a whisper of "Kentucky Christmas"  that sounds like the poultergeist. The fact that fried chicken was already somewhat popular has helped quite a bit mind you.

Christmas here is seen as a holiday for kids, and couples. Not so much for family gatherings. The New Years is really the big deal, and children don't even get off school until the 27th or so. It seems however, that KFC is trying to convince the Japanese that Chicken would be good for New Years too, they have a lot more cultural barriers to break down first...

This picture was taken in Akihabara, the electronics district. Many shops advertise "Duty Free" for gaijin but they never tell you how to get your flat screen TV and extra large rice cooker home on the plane.

It's bright and bustling, I saw far more locals then foreigners, but we do stick out quite a bit. This is also where we found two card shops, each packed with males  13-30 picking over the wares. The most popular there it seems, is not magic. There were some people playing Pokemon, some Gundam fans, and a whole lot of games that feature scantily clad anime chicks as cards. No clue on how to play 'em but they do sell lots!

We also found several shops of the same used dvd/games variety. Each had a ground floor of mixed fare, and a second floor devoted entirely to porn. Not a sign of carding for age anywhere. And in the actual "love place", the floor of dvds was off limits to women. Not the floor with inflatable women, the dvds. Pictures were not allowed, so this post stays SFW for the moment.

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