Eat Salmon on Christmas!

About

"Eat Salmon on Christmas!" (Japanese: クリスマスにはシャケを食え OR クリスマスには鮭を食え, Kurisumasu ni wa Syake wo Kue)^[1] is a memorable quote by Samon Shakekistantin (サモーン・シャケキスタンチン)^[2], a Gangler Monster in the 2018-2019 Super Sentai title Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger.^[3] This fictional monster that stood against the Japanese custom of eating chicken at the event has inspired both tokusatsu viewers and the real-world food industries beyond the fanbase.

Origin

Eating chicken at Christmas dinner has been a well-practiced tradition in Japan since Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan's nationwide advertising campaigns succeeded in the 1970s.^[4]

Samon Shakekistantin appeared in "Looking Forward to Christmas," the 45th episode of the TV tokusatsu program aired on December 23rd, 2018. In the episode, the salmon-themed monster attempts to force people to eat not chicken but salmon on Christmas and yelled the phrase from an electric billboard (shown below). This episode also attracted the attention of tokusatsu fans before the premiere in another context of the so-called "Christmas Episode" (クリスマス回). It refers to a tradition in Toei's Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series to put some exclusive renditions or unfold significant developments in its main story in the episodes featuring Christmas events in December after the 2000s.^[5][6]

Spread

That Christmas episode and its monster's passion for letting people eat salmon inspired viewers just before Christmas. His memorable quote soon became the hashtag #EatSalmonOnChristmas (#クリスマスにはシャケを食え or #クリスマスには鮭を食え)^[7] and went trending on Twitter just after the episode's airing. Since that year, the hashtag has become trending among tokusatsu fans on Twitter every Christmas season with parodies and fan art for Samon or their dinner with some salmon.

Also, the online presence of this phrase gradually affected the Toei tokusatsu series and the Japanese economy beyond the fanbase. In the subsequent Super Sentai titles, it became a tradition to put an element of salmon in their Christmas episodes (shown below). The 2019-2020 Kamen Rider title, Kamen Rider Zero-One^[8], featured a chicken shop sticking a bill "We Have Salmon" (鮭有ります) in its Christmas episode aired on December 22nd. This episode, shot by Shojiro Nakazawa (中澤祥次郎)^[9], the same director for Samon's story, also featured a boy who wanted to eat salmon for Christmas dinner and a kid holding Samon's weapon.

From top left to bottom right: Ryusoulger^[10] (2019), Zero-One (2019), Kiramager^[11] (2020), Zenkaiger^[12] (2021), Don Brothers^[13] (2022)

In November 2019, Japanese major supermarket chain AEON started a promotion campaign titled "Merry Christmas Salmon" (#メリクリサーモン), which proposed eating some salmon for Christmas dinner (shown below). This hashtag succeeded in trending thanks to tokusatsu fans reacting to it with their hashtag.

／#メリクリサーモン 🎄
＼
今年のクリスマスはサーモンだ‼

ミシュランガイド二つ星レストラン【ナベノ-イズム】監修
時短レシピを大公開🙌

🔽レシピをチェック

— イオン (@AEON_JAPAN) November 27, 2019

In 2020, TV Asashi, the broadcasting station for the Super Sentai series, revived the monster as a promotional character for its paid channel's special program featuring the series' Christmas episodes "Christmas Dai-Syake-sen" (クリスマス大鮭戦) (shown below).^[14]

It also impressed tokusatsu fans by giving Samon a new voice by Kyosei Tsukui^[15], a veteran voice actor for tokusatsu monsters, because the actor had retired from the series with Samon due to being diagnosed with ALS.

12月19日からスタートするスーパー戦隊クリスマス大鮭戦に先駆け、番組ナビゲーターのサモーンからメッセージが届きました！これから日替わりでメッセージをお届けします！#クリスマスにはシャケを食え　#スーパー戦隊クリスマス大鮭戦 pic.twitter.com/8saPfWxMLf

— CSテレ朝チャンネル【特撮】 (@tvasahi_cs_tkst) December 13, 2020

Samon Shakekistantin is Here! I'm back!
Eat salmon on Christmas! And watch Super Sentai!
Ya, Understand?
Super Sentai Christmas Dai-Syake-Sen from Dec.19!

In 2021, the official Twitter of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (@MAFF_JAPAN) jumped onto this hashtag because the governing body had held an annual campaign for proposing to eat salmon and trout on Christmas, "#SalmonDeChristmas" (#サーモンでクリス鱒) since the last year.^[17][18] The Lupinranger VS Patranger actors/affiliates reacted to this news on Twitter.^[19][20] Ryo Yokoyama^[21], the actor for Sakuya Hikawa/Patren 2gou, jokingly said, "We have to consider the possibility that we couldn't defeat Samon."^[22]

【サーモンで #クリス鱒！】

メリークリスマス！
クリスマス御飯は色合いピッタリなサーモンに決定！#クリスマスにはシャケを食え#水産庁 pic.twitter.com/sxb2NoLV85

— 農林水産省 (@MAFF_JAPAN) December 24, 2021

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References