Foreign parents in Japan are faced with the task of trying to reconcile their own childhood memories of Christmas with the different take that Japan has on the holiday season.
While Japan does the commercial side of the season very well, with beautiful displays and piped-in holiday tunes in many of the stores, Christmas for most families usually means eating fried chicken and strawberry shortcake on Dec. 24 and giving each child a single gift "from Santa."
The custom of fried chicken originated back in the 1970s, when KFC launched a successful Christmas advertising campaign. Fried chicken was more familiar to the Japanese than turkey, yet was still unusual enough to satisfy the growing trend to embrace Western pop culture. As for strawberry shortcake, its delicate texture is probably more popular than stodgy fruitcake, while its red and white colors fit right in with the holidays.