From Combini to Space Launches: Lawson’s Karaage-kun Turns 37

It began as a hot fast food item inspired by a popular 1980s manga. Since then, it has exploded in popularity, increased in variety, and even gone to space. What is Karaage-kun, which turned 37 this month? Learn more about this tasty fried chicken phenomenon from ubiquitous convenience store chain Lawson.

Manga Inspirations

Independent of the Lawson convenience store’s creations, karaage as a dish has a lengthy history in Japan. Early mentions of this dish by this name– though not by its present spelling– date to the 17th century. Originally written as 空揚, its modern spelling of 唐揚げ (“Chinese frying”) dates to the 1930s, when it attained the beginning of its current popularity.

Karaage-kun, by contrast, has much more recent roots. In 1986, Lawson seized on the popularity of a manga by Ueda Masashi called Kariage-kun. The manga follows the life of the titular salaryman protagonist named Kariage Shōta, who is sometimes called “Karaage-kun” in-story. Lawson thus named its new offering “Karaage-kun.” Today, Lawson marks 15 April as Karaage-kun’s birthday.

While the Kariage-kun manga is successful and still running as of this writing, and has even made it into live-action adaptation, I would argue that Lawson’s fried chicken has far eclipsed it in ubiquity and popularity, as we will see below.

But just what has nearly four decades on Lawson shelves brought?

Flying Off the Shelves

Karaage-kun’s original flavor remains a standard, but many other varieties have followed it in the years since. The main lineup of flavors are Regular, Red, Hokkaido Cheese, and Lemon. Each variety likewise comes with its own mascot character, a variation on the same anthropomorphic chicken.

There are local varieties at specific stores or in particular regions, aside from this initial lineup. Tohoku’s current regional variation, for example, is butter garlic with garlic from Aomori Prefecture. There are also collaborations with other businesses and brands. In all, Lawson notes 3,300,000,000 units sold and 281 varieties in all as of June 2020. That number has since increased to 4 billion sold, as of this writing.

Lawson has marked Karaage-kun’s anniversary with giveaways, LINE stickers, comics, and other goods. It’s not the landmark 40th anniversary just yet, but it’s a noteworthy anniversary all the same. And rather than simply stay on Lawson shelves, as of 2020, Karaage-kun has gone even further, and made it to space.

Flying into Space

Japanese food specially prepared for space flight is nothing new. Japanese astronauts have been in space since the days of Mohri Mamoru and Akiyama Toyohiro in the early 1990s, when Japanese space agency JAXA’s predecessor agencies developed the first types of Japanese cuisine specifically prepared for Space Shuttle and later ISS flights.

But in recent years, JAXA collaborated with Lawson to make Space Karaage-kun. Lawson began work on space food in February 2017, working together first with the Tsukuba Space Center and then directly with JAXA for over three years on development.

JAXA approved Space Karaage-kun for spaceflight as of June 2020. While in many respects the same as regular Karaage-kun on Earth, Space Karaage-kun is smaller– each piece about bite sized, part of a 12-gram packet– and is freeze dried for ease of transport and extended shelf life.

Astronaut Noguchi Sōichi was first to enjoy this variety, during the course of Expedition 64/65 starting later that same year aboard the International Space Station. With Japan’s anticipated participation in the NASA-led push to land on the moon and set up a new space station in close proximity, it’s safe to say that Karaage-kun will venture even further into space in the years ahead.

Conclusion

From its humble origins riffing on the name of a popular manga, to the ranks of space food on the ISS, Karaage-kun has had an eventful 37 years. Happy birthday, Karaage-kun! We look forward to the fanfare with which its 40th birthday is sure to be accompanied.

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