These days, having chicken for Christmas dinner is quite commonplace in Japan, whether it's made at home or carried there in a paper bucket. But chicken doesn't have that long a history as an everyday food source.
Until the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when Western poultry farming methods were introduced, chickens, especially roosters, were primarily fighting birds or ornamental pets, although shamo- nabe, a hot pot made with the fighting shamo chicken, was enjoyed.
However, another bird that appears on holiday feast tables at this time of year in Europe has been eaten for many hundreds of years in Japan — the humble duck or kamo.