If there is ONE place my friends who have visited Japan did not want to go when visiting Japan, it’s McDonald’s. Although I’m not a great fan of McDonald’s food, and too much of it tends to make me feel pretty bad, there are several reasons to go to McDonald’s in Japan.
It occurred to me to write this post after hearing that McDonald’s in the U.S. was looking at renovating its shops to make them look and feel nicer to be in. McDonald’s restaurants in Japan tend to have that kind of welcoming, easy to sit and stay a while kind of atmosphere. In fact, the two places I did most of my studying of the Japanese language were McDonald’s and Mister Donut. I’ll discuss the wonders of Mister Donut another time.
Now, let’s break it down into a short list:
10. Keitai Coupons – if you have a cell phone in Japan, you can sign up for extremely good deals just by using your cell phone. Then, all you have to do is show the cashier the image of the coupon on your phone and you are good to go. Coupons like this make a good value for a quick lunch even better.
9. Population cross-section – On a given trip to McDonald’s you can see everyone from Moms and babies to businessmen and women to high school kids to old people.
8. Non-Japanese speaking friendly – If you are visiting the country and just need a quick, relatively familiar bite to eat, it’s not hard to find some golden arches to settle under for a spell.
7. New menu – There is always a rotating special meal or sandwich on the menu that might be such perennials as the “tsukimi burger” which has fried egg on the burger or even the Japan McDonald’s “Big America Series”. There are a lot of specials.. the current one being the MEGAMAC!!!!! (starting May 13, 2011). See the picture to the right.
6. Plenty of them are open 24 hours – If you’ve ever missed the last train of the night, or just wanted someplace bright and relaxing to get a bite or spend a few hours, McDonald’s is a fine option.
5. Great drink options – Aside from the normal Coca-cola, you can also get Ginger Ale, coffee, cafe au lait, Coca-cola Zero, Earl Grey Iced Tea, Sokembi-cha (a nice natural green tea made from a blend of tea types), Fanta Grape, Qoo White Grape (a non-carbonated flavored drink), Lipton tea with lemon or milk.
4. Unique breakfast menu – Including a hot dog with scrambled eggs on it (yes, wieners or sausages are sometimes served with breakfast here), McGriddles, a salad McMuffin, and … yes, the counterpart to the Megamac, the Megamuffin (pictured below), the breakfast menu is quite interesting.
3. Cheap and quick snacks – With quick cheap snacks such as the Shaka-shaka chicken series (boneless fried chicken with various flavors), other chicken dishes, ice cream, sundaes, bacon-potato pies, and salads, you can stop in and relax for a while for just a few hundred yen.
2. Cool Japanese Happy Meal Toys – They often have uniquely Japanese happy meal toys, for example the next set will include Kamen Rider and Okashi no Kuni toys. (See below)… and for the record, it’s referred to as a Happy “Set” in Japan… (in fact wherever you’d say meal in the U.S. you’d use say set here in McDonalds).
1. Stay as long as you like. One of the appeals of restaurants like McDonald’s is that people in Japan generally feel comfortable staying for a while. If you start to feel you’ve passed your time, you can get a coffee refill or order a sundae or something from the 100 yen menu.
As for free WiFi – there is free WiFi for Yahoo BroadBand (Yahoo BB – Softbank) members. If you can find a way to join, it’s worth it to try and join for 300 yen or so a month because free WiFi is not easy to find in Japan. Free WiFi would have been number one on this list if it were true, but it’s just not the case right now.
Well, McDonald’s is a place people identify with the West, but going to a McDonald’s in Japan, also known as Makudo or Makku depending on whether you are in Kansai or Kanto, can be a great expreience for tourists. If you are traveling with kids, it could also be a great way to grab some comfort food and a respite from new things. If you want to meet people, there may be enough of a cross section and social atmosphere at some times of the day that it wouldn’t be strange to strike up a conversation with the guy or gal in the next booth over.
I think it’s worth going, it’s a quick cheap, and believe it or not very Japanese way to get a meal in Japan.