In Japan, where the law of etiquette includes passengers encountered on the subway, a "low smell" KFC fried chicken is being offered in to-go boxes specially packed to repress delicious finger-lickin' odors from reaching perturbed fellow subway passengers.
This special "Fried Chicken Home Type" pack is available through Dec. 31, according to Grub Street, and is located at a pop-up inside the Shinjuku subway station in downtown Tokyo. Commuters can grab a two-piece fried chicken to-go box for $4.50 without worry of nasally offending riders around them.
Japan's Sora News 24 reported KFC's claims that the Home Type's low-odor packaging locks in flavor and aroma by swapping the usual cardboard box and less-permeable plastic with a plastic that seals the odor of fried chicken even when your nose is pressed up against the container.
Home Type is sold at room temperature, but after zapping it in the microwave, the familiar smell of KFC's herbs and spices blend permeates the air and reportedly lives up to its finger-lickin' promise (although nothing was said about the crispiness after nuking. Home Type solves the solution to inadvertent rudeness, while apparently giving up nothing in the actual eating experience once in the privacy of your own home, according to Sora News.
Spare passengers the delicious smell, if not for their sake, but for yours. Drooling in public transportation, I imagine, is more offensive than a strong perfume (Eau de KFC).
Home Type will only be available at KFC Station until the end of December, when the demand for fried chicken skyrockets. Fried chicken is Japan's go-to Christmastime meal and every year, thanks to KFC's wildly successful "Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii" (Kentucky for Christmas) marketing campaign in 1974, a bucket of "Christmas Chicken" is in order to start off the big day.
KFC's special Christmas chicken dinner comes with cake and champagne and goes for $40. Swarms of people trek to the fast-food chain to get their chicken, sometimes waiting in lines as long as two hours, while others order their boxes of finger lickin' holiday boxes months in advance to avoid the wait.