Our theme for the month of October is “states.”
I’m currently studying at a small university in Japan, and several of the English-speaking students here happen to be from Kentucky. When a group of us were talking one day, one of these Kentuckians mentioned that she had visited the local KFC and thought the food was decently alright. “How does it compare to Kentucky Fried Chicken at home?” we naturally wondered.
“Don’t know,” she said. “Never had it.”
Never had it? This got me thinking, and when I received the theme for this month—states, of all things to write about while studying abroad!—the machinations of a scientific endeavor began to form in my head.
Firstly, Japan does in fact have KFCs. It’s actually a popular tradition here to have KFC for dinner on Christmas Day, and the restaurant chain is pretty widely viewed as a nice, or at least respectable, food option. A special treat.
After interviewing a Japanese student who lived in Kentucky for fourteen years, though, I received my second verbal testimony that KFC in Kentucky is actually not good. But Kentucky is the KFC motherland! I thought. How can it be that they’re out-Kentuckied by an island nation on the other side of the globe?
My Japanese friend’s theory is that because Kentucky is so rife with fast food chicken options, Kentucky Fried Chicken has considerably more competition there and simply doesn’t hold up against Chick-Fil-A, Buffalo Wild Wings, Popeyes, or apparently any other available food option. Japan, meanwhile, is an island where non-seafood meats are more expensive and considered more special, so KFC, being the singular American-style chicken branch, essentially has the market to itself. But she also said the chicken is genuinely tastier here in Japan, while the KFCs in America have harder biscuits and more grease.
So of course I had to try it for myself. For research.
On an unsuspecting Thursday evening, I gathered a group of other interested KFC-goers and we made the twenty-minute walk to the local mall’s KFC. Like a true travel blogger, I made sure to snap pictures.
Nothing about the outward appearance of the shop seemed particularly different from American locations. A grinning fiberglass Colonel Sanders held post outside the entrance like a Santa Claus at Christmas or Laughing Buddha at a temple, and the inside was exactly what you might expect from a fast food restaurant, minus the hand-washing station because “finger-licking good” also means washing your hands before and after if you have any decent Japanese sense of hygiene. There’s also a special marketing campaign at many restaurants this time of year for the moon-viewing festival, but according to my other Japanese friend, the moon-viewing festival doesn’t actually exist anymore as anything other than an outlet for commercialism. But on another note, I didn’t know KFC’s delicious meal packs could be made more enticing if offered by anime girls.
I must also confess I don’t usually order chicken, so my friend and I split a small classic combo of chicken strips, fries, one of the allegedly soft biscuits, and a cup of melon soda between the two of us.
The chicken had the salty-but-warm flavor I would expect of an American KFC, but my Japanese friend was right in saying it is not as greasy as you might expect. The people who came with me, all of whom have visited KFC in the States more recently than I have, reported that the chicken still only reached the status of “alright,” though we had high praises for the texture and taste of the biscuit, drizzled in honey maple syrup. The melon soda was unsurprisingly soda-tasting.
You might be asking where the biscuit is, and for that, I can only blame my poor camera skills. It’s there, behind the wax paper. After the meal, we returned our trays and washed our hands, then strolled the mall and made our way home like any other night. Is KFC in Japan better than KFC in Kentucky? Well, we liked the biscuits and the anime girls were an interesting touch. From what I’ve heard, America gives larger portions, but Japan’s food might be slightly better quality. At the end of the day, though? I don’t know, KFC, I didn’t lick my fingers on either side of the globe. Especially if you install a hand-washing station.
Emilyn Shortridge (’25) spent her Calvin years studying English linguistics, Asian studies, and ministry leadership, and intends to finish her Asian studies program in Chiba, Japan, in 2026. When at home in Plymouth, Michigan, she thrives anywhere near fantasy novels, houseplants, hot tea, or her calico cat, Genie, but she plans to live and learn in many cultures before deciding which corner of the world needs her most.
