And KFC's founder and mascot, Colonel Sanders, has become the symbol of Christmas in Japan.

還有肯德基的創始人和吉祥物桑德斯上校、已成為日本聖誕節的象徵。說真的，如果你搜索

Seriously, if you search Christmas Japan on Google images, the top result is Colonel Sanders in a Santa suit.

谷歌圖片上的日本聖誕節，排名第一的是穿著聖誕老人服裝的桑德斯上校。

So, what's going on?

那麼，到底發生了什麼？

Well, although many Japanese people do now celebrate Christmas, not many are Christian, 

雖然現在有很多日本人慶祝聖誕節，但信奉基督教的人並不多、

and so they don't have all the same traditions as the west like the traditional turkey dinner.

是以，他們沒有和西方一樣的傳統，比如傳統的火雞大餐。

However, one year, the manager of KFC's first ever store in Japan overheard a couple of tourists say that they'd really missed not having turkey at Christmas, and that night he woke up with an idea:

然而，有一年，肯德基在日本的第一家店的經理無意中聽到一對夫婦說遊客們說，他們非常懷念聖誕節沒有火雞吃的日子，那天晚上

What if KFC's fried chicken could be a substitute for turkey?

他幡然醒悟：如果肯德基的炸雞可以替代火雞呢？

So in 1974, KFC launched a new campaign across Japan called "Kentucky for Christmas",

是以，1974 年，肯德基在日本各地發起了一項名為 "肯德基的聖誕節 "的新活動、

and began offering what they called Christmas party barrels - which were fried chicken meals to be shared by families over the holidays.

並開始提供他們所謂的聖誕派對木桶--這是炸雞餐，供家人在節日期間共享。

The idea really took off, especially in the 90's as KFC massively doubled down on its Christmas advertising to reinforce this association between KFC and Christmas with the Japanese people.

尤其是在上世紀 90 年代，隨著肯德基在聖誕節期間大舉加倍努力，這一想法真正實現了飛躍。廣告，以加強日本人對肯德基和聖誕節的聯想。

For many years, they ran big ads to create the connection in people's minds.

多年來，他們通過大篇幅的廣告在人們心中建立聯繫。而且

And it definitely helped that they used the imagery of KFC's mascot, Colonel Sanders, all dressed up in a Santa suit.

他們使用肯德基吉祥物桑德斯上校的形象，這絕對有幫助、一身聖誕老人裝。日本是一個非常重視長輩的國家、

Japan is a country that puts a high value on its elders, 

是以，讓這位白髮老人穿上經典的聖誕老人套裝，效果非常好，所以

and so having this old man with white hair and the classic Santa suit just worked really well.

以至於桑德斯上校基本上成了日本聖誕節的象徵。

So much so that Colonel Sanders has essentially become the symbol of Christmas in Japan.

KFC were pretty sneaky though.

不過，肯德基還是很狡猾的......因為肯德基在日本投放的廣告經常暗示，在日本吃肯德基會讓你的身體更健康。在聖誕節吃肯德基炸雞是美國的一個流行傳統、

As the ads that KFC ran in Japan often suggested that eating Kentucky Fried Chicken at Christmas was already a popular tradition in America, 

which is perhaps why it caught on in Japan, as they thought it was something that was already popular elsewhere, not just something that KFC had invented to boost chicken sales.

這也許就是它在日本流行起來的原因，因為他們認為這是一種......而不是肯德基為了提高雞肉銷量而發明的。

Because in reality, even though KFC is an American company, if you showed up to Christmas dinner with a bucket of KFC in the US, you'd get some very weird looks.

因為在現實中，儘管肯德基是一家美國公司，但如果你出現在在美國，如果你在聖誕晚餐上吃一桶肯德基，你會得到一些非常奇怪的目光。

However for Japan, it kind of filled the void of not having a Christmas tradition, and it's actually become a nice way of getting all the family together and sharing a meal.

不過，對日本來說，這也算是填補了沒有聖誕節傳統的空白、實際上，這已經成為讓全家人聚在一起共享美食的好方法。

In fact, the tradition of having KFC at Christmas in Japan has become so popular that you have to place your KFC order weeks in advance, or you'll be waiting in line for hours to get your fried chicken party barrel.

事實上，在日本，聖誕節吃肯德基已經成為一種傳統。您必須提前數週預訂肯德基，這一點很受歡迎、 否則你就得排幾個小時的隊才能買到炸雞派對桶。

It's estimated these Christmas packages account for up to a third of the chain's yearly sales in Japan!

據估計，這些聖誕禮包占到佔該連鎖店在日本年銷售額的三分之一！

And so it's perhaps not too surprising that the guy who came up with the idea later became CEO of KFC in Japan - and he did admit that he regretted lying and saying that people in the US had this tradition.

是以，提出這個想法的人後來，他成為日本肯德基的首席執行官--他確實承認，他很後悔 撒謊，說美國人有這種傳統。

But to be fair, people in Japan seem to like it.

但公平地說，日本人似乎喜歡它。

And for KFC, it was genius marketing.

對肯德基來說，這是一次天才的營銷。

Of course, the twist to all of this is that the real life Colonel Sanders who created the company, actually ending up hating KFC and suing the company before he died.

當然，這一切的轉捩點在於，現實生活中的桑德斯上校創建了這家公司、實際上，他最後還是恨死了肯德基，並在死前起訴了這家公司。我說真的

Seriously, the full KFC story is a rollercoaster, and you can go watch it for yourself right now by clicking the thumbnail on screen. 

肯德基的完整故事就像雲霄飛車一樣--您可以親自觀看，就在這裡

I'll see you there in a second. Cheers.

現在就點擊螢幕上的縮略圖。 我們一會見。乾杯