George: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences
between KFC in Japan and the US.
This is "Food Wars."
So, the fries at the KFC in Japan
come in three sizes.
So this is small.
George: Next one is Joe: And back again!
George: Large. Joe: The large.
Then we got a box.
Now let's weigh our largest fries.
Ooh, ooh, ooh!
[Joe laughs]
George: We can do it!
I'm shook!
As the kids say. By that information.
I want to say, though, that theirs is a box.
That thing is, like, made to be eaten
by more than one person, I'm assuming.
But this, clearly,
this is for a person. So.
So, in Japan, we have three drink sizes.
So we have a small.
In the US, our drinks come
in medium. George: A medium.
Then we got a large.
And large.
So, in Japan, KFC doesn't disclose
how much liquid is in each of the sizes.
Why?
So I will help you, KFC.
We will measure the cups right now.
Let's go.
So now let's measure our large,
and just to make sure it's accurate,
we didn't clean the measuring cup.
Go home.
So, at the KFC in Japan,
you can order your chicken pieces in
one piece,
two pieces,
three pieces,
four pieces,
and six pieces,
and eight pieces,
and 10 pieces,
and 12 pieces.
KFC in the US,
our chicken portion sizes
start as a two-piece combo.
By the way, come on, guys.
This isn't whatever this is supposed to be.
Then the three-piece right in front of me here.
And that's the exact opposite.
I went extra crispy for this.
Look at the size of these chicken pieces!
Yes, yes to these.
And the four-piece.
This is somewhere in the middle.
Each combo comes with a biscuit,
your choice of potato,
either fries or mashed with gravy,
and all of them come with a medium drink.
But we don't stop there.
We go now to buckets,
where you can get an eight-piece bucket,
12-piece bucket,
or a 16-piece bucket.
So, now we are going to weigh
our eight-piece chicken
to compare the weights in each country.
Joe: Ooh, ooh, oh!
Oh, this is the — ugh!
Yo!
It's pretty close!
Considering all the variables of
size of chicken,
bone density, batter.
I don't know what I'm talking about,
but that's surprisingly close.
So, in Japan, a two-piece of original chicken,
which are breasts and wing
and small fries and a medium drink,
costs 800 yen, or $7.27.
So, in Japan,
actually KFC is considered a little bit more expensive
compared to other fast-food chains, like McDonald's.
So it's a classic fast food in Japan.
That same meal is about $8.99,
or in Japanese yen, 992.27.
So that's about a 24% cost increase in the US.
So, in Japan, to make chicken at KFC,
you must be certified as a chicken specialist,
and certification takes three months,
and your knowledge and skills are tested every year.
All right, so let's take
the chicken-specialist test right now.
All right, George, let's do this.
No. 1.
"For the original chicken, 100% domestic ... "
That's kind of a bummer.
Hmm.
I'm just gonna — yeah. Ba ba de ba ba ba.
Animal fat or vegetable oil ...
Fried with a lighter weight.
With a lighter weight than — these got hard fast.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep ...
I am in over my head on this one.
I don't even know what that means.
All right, so just now
I've got all of the five answers,
so let's check answers.
Gold chicken certification.
Gold!
[applause]
Oof!
Says "Not KFC material,"
and it's a picture of Colonel Sanders giving me the finger.
So I'm gonna assume I did not pass it.
But anyway, I've got gold.
I'm the champion!
I am very surprised by that.
I think I could work for KFC.
I mean, I kind of look like Colonel Sanders, right?
Look at this guy.
I'm a younger Colonel Sanders.
KFC is doing any sort of
"The Adventures of Young Colonel Sanders" ad campaign.
Is this a face that can sell chicken?
Yeah! Haven't you guys ever read the secret?
I'm putting the energy that I want
out into the universe, and it comes back to me.
Conner: Manifesting.
It's called manifesting.
So, here is everything you can only find
on the menu at the KFC in Japan,
but not in the US.
And here is everything you can find on the menu
at a US KFC you cannot get in Japan.
Here, we've got KFC biscuits.
Both places have biscuits,
but their biscuit has a hole in it.
And it looks a lot fluffier. Right?
Our biscuit, on the other hand,
is just this Southern style.
Not exactly a scone,
but kind of looks like one from a distance.
Dry cornmeal biscuit.
It comes with honey maple KFC.
George: Ahh. Joe: Oh, ho ho ho ho!
Yeah.
This is good.
The maple is a little bit sweet for me.
Mac and cheese.
I can't believe you guys do not have macaroni and cheese.
Mwah. Love mac and cheese.
Mashed potatoes and gravy.
You don't have that in Japan?
Guys.
Guys!
Demand this from your Japanese KFC.
You want the mashed potatoes and gravy.
So, we also have dip packs.
Ooh.
So, it's got Colonel Crispy,
and some nuggets,
and boneless Kentucky,
and some original chicken.
So this dip pack,
it comes with this fries
and also
these three dipping sauces.
And now for the quickest Sauce Talk ever.
Sauce Talk.
KFC sauce.
I think the KFC sauce is like a brown mustard mayo.
Yeah, that sauce is good.
So, we've got
barbecue sauce
and mustard,
and this pink one is called mentaiko mayo.
Mentaiko means it's spicy cod roe,
and it's very popular at KFC in Japan.
This is actually great.
I'll dip this.
Mm!
It tastes fantastic.
Winner!
So, if you want to have a little bigger one,
you can order dip barrel.
I mean, it's double amount of this dip pack,
so it's going to be very big.
So, this one right here is called
four-piece red hot chicken box,
and it comes with a pie and fry,
and a medium drink.
And actually we have other box options,
like four-piece half hot and half original box.
And it comes with fries as well.
And six-piece half hot and half original box.
It comes with fries again.
So, in Japan, we have tori no hi pack.
That means chicken day.
It's on every 28th of the month.
And two stands for ni,
and eight stands for wa.
And it becomes niwa,
and niwa is synonmous with niwatori.
Niwatori means chicken.
So that's why it's called chicken day.
KFC in America has extra-crispy chicken.
This is the best type of chicken.
I mean, look at this.
I don't know what they do to this,
but the skin is practically falling off.
It is so crispy and so delicious.
I love extra crispy so much.
I got this little guy.
The Chicken Little. Look at this guy.
Eh? Look at this little guy.
Comes with pickles, mayo.
The pot pie that they have here,
they're not kidding when they say "pie" in the pot pie.
Look how thick this is!
Speaking of big dishes of stuff,
the Famous Bowl.
Once upon a time, a KFC employee was like,
I'm gonna put everything into one dish and call it a day.
And ta-da, the Famous Bowl was born.
This has to be, like, 3 pounds.
All right, so here we've got
two special twisters.
So this one right here is called
pepper mayonnaise twister.
Ooh! It looks great.
[applause]
9 out of 10.
KFC, thank you!
Thank you for making me happy.
So, next, we've got,
ooh!
Teriyaki twister.
Should be great.
It's kind of gross.
[laughs]
It's got mayo and Colonel Crispy,
some veggies,
and I hope this is teriyaki sauce.
Itadakimasu!
Mm. Mm! Mm!
It looks gross, but it tastes incredible.
10 out of 10. Congratulations.
Oishii!
It means delicious!
Look how tiny those twisters are.
I could eat, like, three of those easily. Easily!
All right, so we have nuggets.
We have three pieces,
five pieces,
and they come with only ketchup.
Also at a US KFC that you can't get in Japan
are wings.
You can get wings at the KFC
in units of six, 12, 24 or 48.
I believe the three wing flavors that I got here are
standard Buffalo,
the honey barbecue,
and if you're a total wuss,
unsauced?
What's wrong with you?
Yeah. Very sketchy.
You can also get them, in a limited time,
Nashville hot sauce.
Now we have special sandwiches.
This one right here is called
Japanese-style chicken katsu sandwich.
So let's take a look inside.
So, it's got mayo,
and it's got cabbage,
and chicken katsu right there.
Itadakimasu!
Mm.
Oh!
This sauce is soy-sauce-based sauce,
and it's a little bit sweet.
And this mayo is also great with this sauce.
This looks really small,
but it has huge amount of chicken.
So if you eat this, you're gonna be full.
And next one, we've got chicken fillet.
Wow. This is also huge.
All right, so this one right here
is called black hot sandwich.
Ooh!
Look at this. It's, like, pepper mayo?
I just tasted this pepper mayo,
but it has a little, like, spiciness.
Ooh, ho ho.
Oh, man. It's too strong.
I wouldn't get it. Be careful.
Now, of course, the US has a chicken sandwich.
But our chicken sandwich and their chicken sandwich,
as you can see, is way different.
You can also get it spicy or classic.
This is a classic.
All right, so this one right here
is called Colonel Crispy.
Is it only in Japan?
I cannot confirm the difference between
a Colonel Crispy and a KFC chicken tender.
They call their tenders Colonel Crispies,
and we call our Colonel Crispies chicken tenders.
It's been a while since I ordered this one,
but it still has crispy bits.
Good job.
Japanese KFC's technology, state of the art.
We currently have a Nashville hot chicken
and hot tenders.
I went ahead with the tenders.
I've just been informed
this was a big TikTok thing for a minute.
Something about biting it and crunching it.
I don't know anything about that.
I can say just by holding this,
there's no way these are crispy.
[crunching]
Was not that spicy.
That's kind of spicy.
I do like this a lot.
I can't stop eating it.
Ooh. That heat's catching up with me.
Slow burn. Slow build on the heat.
So, here we've got Japanese exclusive drinks.
This one right here is
water,
but it comes with this Assam tea pack.
It's supposed to be hot, but it's cold.
And next one, we've got coffee.
So, this one right here is
roasted rich coffee.
Itadakimasu.
It's a little bit better than the normal coffee.
And here we've got Earl Grey iced tea.
It's not sweet at all.
And next one is melon soda.
It has bright green color.
Horrible. It's too sweet.
Here is ginger ale.
Nothing special.
And the last one,
it's Nacchan refreshing orange.
Fountain drinks. There's a few that we can get
that you guys cannot over there in Japan.
The first one is a beverage that
I have yet to meet one human being who enjoys it.
Of course, I'm talking about Sierra Mist.
Maybe grossest soda ever.
Oh, it's so bad.
Another drink that you can get at KFC
that you can't get at Japan,
and here it is right here,
Mountain Dew's great.
When I was in college, I worked at a pizza place.
I drank so much Mountain Dew, I threw up.
And now I'm drinking Mountain Dew.
Let's see if I can do it again.
My favorite beverage, Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning.
So good. So good.
So, drinks are just normal, nothing special,
but chickens are
finger-licking good.
Desserts at a US KFC,
you can get this chocolate chip cookie.
Recognize that guy?
I just look just like this guy.
And, finally,
a chocolate chip cake.
So, let's talk about Christmas in Japan.
So Christmas is one of the biggest events in Japan,
even though about 1% of Japanese people are Christians.
We just enter Christmas as just a fun event.
And as for KFC for Christmas in Japan,
back in 1970s,
Japan KFC launched
a hugely successful advertising campaign
called Kentakki ni wa Kurisumasu.
That's Kentucky for Christmas.
And with that strong marketing campaign,
it became so popular
to have KFC for Christmas in Japan.
And now about 3.6 million Japanese families
eat KFC for Christmas.
And talking about my personal experiences,
yes, when I was young,
I would eat KFC for Christmas with my family.
But when you started dating, you know,
Christmas makes the transformation
from a family event to couple's event.
And I'm looking for the one
who can enjoy KFC for Christmas with me.
So, in Japan, one drumstick of ori —
ooh!
So, in Japan, one drumstick of original chicken,
on average, has 237 calories.
Chicken's looking a little limp there, George.
In the US, one stiff drumstick of original recipe
is 130 calories.
But according to KFC's US site,
that's for a 53-gram piece.
Now, adjusting for the 87-gram piece,
like that of Japan,
the calories go up to 210.
Does that make sense? Great.
Now, take this bad boy and make him extra crispy?
You got 270 calories.
So, in Japan, a two-piece of original chickens
and a small fry and a medium drink
is roughly 717 calories.
A US two-piece, individual fry, and medium drink
comes out to be 990 calories.
So a lot more.
It's too many calories.
Mm.
Not enough calories, if you ask me.
But finger-licking good.
I think KFC got to George.
He keeps dropping that slogan.
Are they paying George?
I think George is getting some money on the side from KFC.
Oh, my God.
If George turns out to be Colonel Sanders,
I will lose my mind.
So, KFC in Japan doesn't disclose their ingredients.
So we emailed their customer support,
and this is what they told us.
And in the US,
our original-recipe chicken ingredients are:
first, with the fresh chicken,
it is marinated with salt, sodium phosphate,
and monosodium glutamate.
On to the breading,
it's breaded with wheat flour,
tricalcium phosphate,
maltodextrin,
triglycerides,
natural flavor,
Colonel's secret original recipe seasoning.
They also said our fries are made of potatoes, obviously,
and vegetable oil and fat.
The batter is made of rice flour,
vegetable starch,
and dextrose.
And our fries,
which contain sea salt,
monosodium glutamate,
tricalcium phosphate,
hydrolyzed soy protein,
potassium chloride,
potatoes, that's good,
degermed yellow cornmeal,
disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate,
to maintain natural color.
What's more natural
than disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate?
Rolls off the tongue.
And one thing I have to say
is that our fries are imported
from both America and Belgium.
And some of the Belgian fries
are made with potatoes from France.
So our fries are truly, truly French.
Bonjour!
In the US, we have four chicken shapes.
In Japan, we have five chicken shapes.
Let me explain.
So, we have this one.
It's called kiru.
Kiru is like chicken's breast, right here.
[laughing]
I'm gonna say chicken's chest.
Breasts ...
[laughing]
Kiru is like chicken's chest, right there.
The first one is the breast.
This is the big piece of chicken your dad gets.
And also we got wing.
It's a, as you know, chicken wing.
This is supposed to be a wing.
This is laughably small.
And we've got this one.
It's called rib.
Chickens have ribs?
So, rib is, like, under the chest, right here.
And we got this one, thigh.
Thigh is, like, chicken's lower back.
And the next piece is this, which I think is the thigh.
And, of course,
the next piece, everyone knows the drum.
And this is a chicken's leg.
Hey, if you enjoyed watching this episode
of US versus Japan KFC,
we actually have another series
comparing the US and the UK,
and you can watch that KFC episode right here.