Because even traditional Japanese folktale characters crave fast food by the light of the moon.

When tsukimi moon-viewing season arrives in September, fast food chains around Japan take the opportunity to celebrate with special limited-edition menu items that honour the moon. Nobody does it quite like McDonald’s though, with the chain consistently giving us a full range of treats and a commercial that tugs at the heartstrings, and that’s what they’re serving up this year too.

▼ There are seven items in this year’s collection.

First up, there’s the Tsukimi Muffin (400 yen [US$2.76]), which sandwiches the moon –“tsukimi” is commonly referred to dishes containing egg as the round yolk resembles the moon — inside an English muffin and pairs it with a sausage patty, smoked bacon, and a rich, creamy tomato sauce.

Then we have the Tsukimi Burger (440 yen) and the Cheese Tsukimi Burger (470 yen), which contain the same base ingredients as the muffin, only with a sesame seed-topped bun and a beef patty instead.

While the three eggy items above have become regulars on the tsukimi menu every year, the remaining four items are brand new for this year.

▼ Houjun Fuwatoru Tsukimi Burger (520 yen)

This poetic-sounding burger exudes an air of esteem with its name, which translates as “Mellow Fluffy Moon-Viewing Burger“. The component that elevates this burger and makes it stand out from the rest is the buttery, fluffy scrambled eggs beneath the beef patty, which are made with a generous amount of butter and well seasoned with pepper and garlic for extra flavour.

▼ If you’re hungry for meat, you can pay 100 yen more for an extra patty on any of the burgers after 5 p.m.

On the side menu, we have a new Yuzu Shichimi Tartar dipping sauce (40 yen) for the McNuggets, with the Japanese citrus fruit and seven-spice seasoning delivering a good dose of  heat.

The Custard Pudding Flavour Tsukimi McShake (190 yen for a small) also incorporates golden hues to represent the moon, with custard and caramel adding sweetness to the mix.

And finally, we have the Kinako Mochi and Anko Tsukimi Pie (190 yen), which contains a tasty trifecta of roasted soybean powder, sticky rice cake, and red bean paste. In Japan, the markings on the moon are said to look like a rabbit pounding mochi, and McDonald’s says this pie will have you thinking about that rabbit on the moon.

Now that we’ve run through the moon-viewing menu, it’s time to take a look at the new commercial that accompanies it. As in previous years, the ad zooms in on the father-daughter relationship, which is timely as many young people will have just visited their parents during the August obon holiday period. A lot of those children will now have returned to the big city, where they work and live away from their family, so this is an ad that will tug hard at the heartstrings.

This time, the father-daughter relationship is portrayed with the help of Kaguya-hime (literally “Princess Kaguya“), a traditional Japanese folk tale. According to this tale, a man who worked as a bamboo cutter found a baby girl inside a shining bamboo stalk, and he took her home to his wife, where they raised the child together.

She grew up to become a beautiful young lady with many suitors, one of whom was the emperor. However, she refused them all because she harboured a secret, which she eventually revealed to her father — she came from the moon and would be taken back there by messengers on the night of the next full moon.

▼ Now that you know the background story, let’s take a look at the commercial, which is titled “The Return of Kaguya-hime“.

It’s a beautiful re-interpretation of the story, with Kaguya-hime returning from the moon to eat tsukimi burgers with her family. And that’s not all, because there are two shorter ads as well, with one showing them enjoying the pie…

…and the other promoting McDonald’s delivery, with the messengers from the moon acting as impromptu guests, catered for with a McDonald’s delivery.

The ad above closes with Kaguya-hime saying, “When we return to the moon, we won’t be able to do moon-viewing”, to which the messengers agree. It’s a great reminder for us to stop and admire the beauty around us…and eat all the tsukimi items while they’re on the menu, from 4 September to mid-October.

Source, images: Press release
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