The three new designs give us a sneak peek at what McDonald’s has in store for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
McDonald’s Japan (Page 15)
Not as bold a combination as chocolate fries, but still a tasty match made in fast food heaven.
The young boy is melting hearts for navigating his way back to the car while carrying his meal out of the store and into the street on a tray.
This McDonald’s customer paid for his order in cash and received his hamburger — without setting foot in the store!
They’re billed as “five-star” hamburgers, but can these two new offerings help return McDonald’s to its former glory in Japan?
McDonald’s new “Camembert Teritama” burger has hit Japan, so our writers offered up their cast-iron stomachs for a taste test!
There’s no denying McDonald’s Japan has had rough time these past few years, with incidents like the spoiled meat scandal contributing to declining sales. To complicate matters further, some of the fast food chain’s campaigns and initiatives, like the sudden removal of menus from its counters (which have since been reinstated), have been met with confusion if not outright anger from Japanese customers. Now, it seems McDonald’s has captured the Japanese Internet’s attention again with what could well be their strangest campaign ever.
McDonald’s Japan will be releasing a new line of “affordably priced” burgers on October 26. And while that’s all fine and well, it’s their special one-day promotion in which they’ll be giving away these new burgers for free that has been raising eyebrows due to its bizarre catch.
McDonald’s Japan has been kind of hit and miss with its strategies in the last couple of years. And just when they start doing a few things REALLY right (complimentary socks and free smiles!) they come up with another concoction that’s got netizens dry-heaving.
This time, the offending item is the “healthy” chicken veggie patty burger, aka the “Mogumogu Mac” (mogumogu is an onomatopoeia that means chewing), which is designed specifically for kids.
Much like the rest of the world, fast food in Japan is a war of franchises trying to one-up the other. When McDonald’s announced it was getting rid of large-sized fries, Lotteria announced they’d give customers “whatever size they wanted.” When McDonald’s was struggling with the morning crowd, Mos Burger seized the opportunity to strike by offering a traditional Japanese breakfast.
Now that Mister Donut has upped the ante by rolling out a strawberry-chocolate-marshmallow pizza, McDonald’s has answered back with its new strawberry whipped cream donut and shortcake. Who will emerge the victor? Well, so far, it’s looking pretty one-sided.
As part of their World Mac Hawaii campaign, McDonald’s Japan will be serving up island-inspired burgers and desserts starting February 10. With flavors taking a cue from popular Hawaiian main dishes such as kalua pork and the famous loco moco, and desserts featuring a tropical flare, these new menu items are sure to put a little sunshine in your cold, snowy Japanese winter.
This summer, consumers in Japan were shocked by the news of “Chickengate”, the Chinese food scandal that revealed a dirty secret behind our favorite Chicken McNuggets. Since then, McDonald’s Japan has tried to win back customers with Tofu McNuggets, and more recently introduced the “Hiru Mac” or “Lunchtime Mac” to encourage patrons to come for lunch and enjoy great discounted prices.
But, the public still worries about where the chicken is coming from. The sales of McNuggets haven’t recovered since McDonald’s Japan revealed that the chicken comes from Thailand, so they’re trying a new tactic of…giving away free Chicken McNuggets.
In our modern digital age, it can be somewhat jarring to see Japan clinging so doggedly to its analogue roots. Despite being considered by many to be the home of technology, Japan is also a place where the fax machine is still considered a vital piece of office equipment, flip-phones are holding their own against smartphones, and without actual, physical cash, it is sometimes impossible to make a payment in a store or restaurant.
Like so many people these days, on the rare occasion that I order food in, I’m far more inclined to reach for my laptop than my phone, and a kitchen drawer stuffed with fast food menus is now something that I associate only with my childhood and university days. Even so, I receive anywhere between 10 and 15 fast food delivery menus through my door each week living here in Tokyo, with Pizza Hut and pals feeling the need to constantly remind me of their existence by showing me brightly coloured pictures of their food and telling me that they’re just a phone call away.
And now, it would seem, McDonald’s Japan has joined the ranks of companies employing shifty-looking dudes on scooters to push junk mail through my mail slot.
This year, the sakura cherry blossoms are scheduled to start appearing in Japan as early as March 20 and will slowly move their way north as the country begins to thaw after a particularly snowy winter. Just one day after the appearance of the actual blossoms, McDonald’s will release a spring-inspired burger that takes a cue from the very sakura that Japan is so famous for. But with a pink-colored bun and sakura mayonnaise sauce, it’s unclear if the odd combination will be as well received as cherry blossoms and beer.
Ah, the good old days! It seems like every generation longs for that time when they were young and all was right with the world. McDonald’s Japan is taking that feeling of nostalgia and cramming it into a hamburger with their freshly announced American Vintage campaign, taking us back in time with 1950’s diner fare, 1970s soul food and 1980s pop culture cuisine.
McDonald’s Japan, oh how we love you! You give us so many delicious, heart-clogging treats like the Idaho burger with a hashbrown nestled in the middle or the Mega Potato stuffed with well over half a pound of fries. Now the world’s most recognized burger chain brings us little fried clusters of potato and cheese to get us through the cold Japanese winter.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: McDonald’s Japan has the best Happy Meal toys. In case you haven’t heard, the fast food chain created Mario toys for their “Happy Set” kids meals and they’re awesome. Lucky for those abroad, Japanese fans of the franchise have already uploaded videos of their McDonald’s Happy Meal Marios (say that five times fast). Take a look at just a few!
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