What to expect at a Japanese McDonald’s

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So if I’m being totally 100% honest with you, I eat McDonald’s when I travel. I know that may make some of y’all cringe at the idea- flying around the world and you eat at a complete American restaurant?? Well, the thing is, we usually travel for long periods of time. Last time we were in Japan we were gone for almost a month. I sometimes just like to have a piece of home, and McDonald’s is definitely a familiar taste! I have been to Japan twice already, and I’m positive I will be there at least 5 more times in my life! The McDonald’s in Japan have a ton of differences from the McDonald’s restaurants here in America. I thought that I would share with you some videos and pictures of my experience eating at the Japanese Mickey D’s. I hope you find this as a helpful and entertaining personal take of the fast food chain in Japan!

So, everyone has their go-to Mickey D's order, and mine was the same in Japan. It goes something like this:

Big Mac, NO cheese, extra big mac sauce, extra onions, large fry and sweet tea (which has recently switched to Sprite in the last few months, just an fyi LOL)

So you may be surprised to know that a lot of Japanese do not speak much English. If you ever find yourself traveling to Japan I would encourage you to know at least the most basic phrases so you can find your way to your hotel-or just to the restroom!! A phrase I knew I had to learn my first trip to Japan was "Chizu Nashi", or "No Cheese" in English! I loathe cheese, can't eat it, can't be around it. Definitely didn't want it joining me on my Japan vacation! So I made sure I announced this phrase proudly in whatever dining experience I was in, and I never received my most hated food because of it!

The first thing I've noticed at a lot of Japanese McDonald's (or at least the ones I went to) were the automatic sliding doors. They were a pretty big surprise, as I'm not used to them at our el cheapo fast food stores here. Next thing I noticed was the employees. So your typical American Mickey D's employee usually goes something like this:
1. They hate their job-and maybe even you!
2. They are very annoyed that you are ordering
and 3. They don't know why you have a special request!
Now, in all fairness, I have been served by some AMAZING McDonald's employees before, but this is just the majority (keepin' it real). The employees at the Japanese McDonald's were very quick moving around the kitchen, and didn't scream back and forth at each other. Once I made my order (which is super easy since they have the menu glued to the counter-just point! lol) and said my magical phrase "Chizu Nashi",  I literally received my food within 20 seconds!! Magic, right???! So once you get your food, it's time to find your seat! Japanese take a ton of pride in cleanliness, and this is the same at the fast food chains! This place was pretty immaculate! They do not have sweet tea, instead you get cold black tea and "gum paste"-definitely not the sweet tea taste you are going after! Portion sizes are very different as well-the picture below is their LARGE which is closer to a MEDIUM here in the USA! As far as the taste or quality of the food-it always tastes better in Japan! LOL I thought it was good but Brandon noticed an extreme increase of the taste of the food.

One of our traditions that we brought back home was TERRACE HOUSE NIGHTS. I don't know if ya'll watch any Japanese TV shows, but this is one of our favorites! It's a reality show of a bunch of different Japanese people from around the country living together in a home, and it's so much fun to see the extreme differences between them and Americans! Anyways, when we were in Japan we would buy McDonald's food on Tuesdays when Terrace House came on and go back to the hotel...TERRACE HOUSE MCDONALD'S NIGHT! We still enjoy it here.

So those were just the notable differences-mainly the extreme cleanliness of the place, and the extreme kindness and accuracy of the employees! I hope you find this helpful, and I've placed a couple more of my Japan videos down below so you can binge watch! I will soon be posting about the best burger I've EVER had in my life- and it just so happens to be Obama's favorite burger-and you can only get it in a couple places in the world (one being Japan! Make sure to follow my blog to get that post update) ENJOY!