The Christmas Curse of Japan- Season 2 Finale! w/Alicia Britt

Welcome to the season finale of Seemingly Unrelated! We've managed 46 episodes so far and we'll be returning in March with season 3 (bonus eps continually monthly patreon.com/seeminglyunrelated ) To cap it off this festive season we'll be traveling to Japan where holidays like Christmas should seem to be unrelated already, but it gets even weirder. Why is there a Colonel Sanders dressed in a Santa Suit every December? What decidely un-Christian like business has its busiest day of the year on Dec 25th? More importantly: Who is Randy Bass and what has he got to do with buckets of Christmas Chicken? Joining us again is fan favorite co-host Alicia Britt to answer this secret blend of 11 secrets and spices and to tackle the most daunting mystery of them all: Is 7-11 actually from Asia? All this and more on the seasonally themed season finale of Seemingly Unrelated! Bibliography:ABC Premium News (Sydney, Australia). “Hanshin Tigers Lift Curse of the KFC Colonel Sanders with Nippon League Win: Sport Is Legendary for Its Curses — but Japanese Baseball Ended Its Most Famous One on Sunday When Hanshin Tigers Ended Its KFC Curse after 38 Years.” November 6, 2023. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2886356283/citation/9BAAA30148E74FE0PQ/1.“An Oklahoma Batter Makes Good - ProQuest.” Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.proquest.com/openview/6179071078ec9b3ff8e1e2e9a6ef5172/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1821452.Author, No. “KFC Cuts Queues to Keep Japan’s Fried Chicken Christmas Custom Alive.” The Japan Times, December 15, 2021. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/12/15/business/corporate-business/kfc-christmas-chicken-covid19/.Bryson, Megan. “Japan’s Laughing Buddha Hotei Is Merging into Santa Claus – Both Are Roly-Poly Sacred Figures with a Bag of Gifts.” The Conversation, December 12, 2022. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.53x7njr6k.Creighton, Millie R. “Maintaining Cultural Boundaries in Retailing: How Japanese Department Stores Domesticate ‘Things Foreign.’” Modern Asian Studies 25, no. 4 (1991): 675–709.Fater, Luke. “How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas.” Atlas Obscura, 48:00 500. http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-japanese-kfc-christmas.“Hanshin Tigers History.” Accessed December 8, 2025. http://www2.gol.com/users/michaelo/History.html.Idell, Sacha. “Heisei: A History of Japan, 1989-2011.” New England Review (1990-) 39, no. 2 (2018): 148–59.“Japan: Ending the Curse of Colonel Sanders. - Document - Gale In Context: U.S. History.” Accessed December 8, 2025. https://go-gale-com.eznvcc.vccs.edu/ps/i.do?p=UHIC&u=viva2_nvcc&id=GALE%7CA197989795&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&asid=506efe10.Japan Today. “Loy Weston Brings Kentucky Fried Chicken to 1970s Japan.” April 13, 2023. https://japantoday.com/category/features/when-they-opened-in-japan/loy-weston-brings-kentucky-fried-chicken-to-japan-in-1970.japansociology. “KFC and Christmas Cake – Christmas in Japan.” JAPANsociology, December 29, 2013. https://japansociology.com/2013/12/29/kfc-and-christmas-cake-christmas-in-japan/.Kawano, Kirsty. “The True Story of Why People in Japan Eat KFC at Christmas.” GaijinPot Blog, December 25, 2019. https://blog.gaijinpot.com/the-true-story-of-why-people-in-japan-eat-kfc-at-christmas/.Kimura, Junko, and Russell Belk. “Christmas in Japan: Globalization Versus Localization.” Consumption Markets & Culture 8, no. 3 (2005): 325–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860500160361.pressmin, dir. Enterprise -- Colonel Comes to Japan (Kentucky Fried Chicken) -- 1981. 2016. 27:47. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwwmKcFVji8.“Proquest.Com/Docview/2886356283?accountid=12902&parentSessionId=u6SlSLvy6QM7STgI2J%2FqPF6QYqo%2FxuqatgX7wWJsI3c%3D.” Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2886356283?accountid=12902&parentSessionId=u6SlSLvy6QM7STgI2J%2FqPF6QYqo%2FxuqatgX7wWJsI3c%3D.ResearchGate. “Post-Bubble Japanese Department Stores: The Need to Search for New Paradigms.” Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334004922_Post-Bubble_Japanese_Department_Stores_The_Need_to_Search_for_New_Paradigms.Sok, Elizabeth. “Christmas Cakes in Japan: An Affectionate History.” Savvy Tokyo, December 21, 2022. https://savvytokyo.com/christmas-cakes-in-japan-an-affectionate-history/.Traphagan, John W., and L. Keith Brown. “Fast Food and Intergenerational Commensality in Japan: New Styles and Old Patterns.” Ethnology 41, no. 2 (2002): 119–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/4153002.一般社団法人日本野球機構. “年度別成績 1985年 セントラル・リーグ.” Accessed December 8, 2025. http://npb.jp/bis/yearly/centralleague_1985.html.