Hello Readers!

The title means, “your order please”.

Today I completed JapanesePod101.com Survival Phrases lessons 12, 13, & 14, and SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese lessons 11 & 16. The bulk of the material was about fast food, which is what I want to expand upon today.

So far, the fasuto fudo (fast food) I have been to just happen to both be American chains; Subway and McDonalds.

These are photos of a McDonalds located next to the JPod101 HQ. Can you understand the Kanji on the banner? [Photo by Emily Carsch]

Subway was fantastic! In America, we “eat fresh” with tuna, turkey, ham, and roast beef; just to name the staple items. At the restaurant here in Japan, you can order egg salad, shrimp and avocado, and veggie dogs for example. Instead of your standard condiments like mayonnaise and mustard, Subway offers toppings like basil, wasabi, and pepper sauce.

Want a combo meal? Here, instead of chips, you get potato wedges and you choose which flavor you want; regular, cheese, basil, or BBQ. As far as the beverage is concerned, that too is different than in the US. It seems that “free refills” is virtually unknown here. Want diet cola or a lemon-lime soft drink? You won’t find that here. The options at the Subway I went to were limited to Coke, Ginger Ale, tea, and “Melon Pop”.

I tried the Melon Pop to see what it was. After putting my cup under the nozzle, bright, lime green liquid shot over my ice. Frankly, the soda just tasted like sugar water with carbonation and food coloring. It’s worth trying once, but perhaps not twice.

My sub was excellent! I was hesitant at first, but ordered a “grilled cheesy chicken sandwich” with basil mayonnaise. It tasted like a chicken pesto sandwich with fresh vegetables on it. I found it to be much better than the subs I’ve had from Subway back in America.

McDonalds is a rather interesting cuisine here as well. Let me start by describing the operational differences between the chain here and in the United States. Every McDonalds here is open for 24 hours. In America, if this is the case, it is only the drive-through window that is open. In Tokyo, there isn’t enough space to have a drive-through, so the restaurant is always open for customers to approach the counter to order their meal. It’s probably also worth mentioning that the society is largely based on pedestrian transit, so a drive-through probably would not be in the better interest of the restaurant.

I also venture to say that these hours also deal with safety. In America, it is dangerous to be open at the wee hours of the morning. The safest option to stay open all the time is by merely having the drive-through window open. Japan is very safe, it’s not uncommon to see people walking the streets alone at three or four o’clock in the morning. In my time spent here thus far, I have not felt endangered whatsoever.

The fast food chains here are also two or three floors. Usually, you order at the counter on the ground floor and either go up or down a staircase to a seating area. Because Tokyo is a big city, there is little space, so the only way to build is up.

As far as the food is concerned, Japan’s service-oriented economy does a much better job of putting your meal together. It looks and tastes better than it would in America. The restaurant offers much of the same menu as in the US. One addition however, is a teriyaki burger.

As this is getting long, I’ll do my best to quickly wrap up by telling you about ordering.

Just like in the podcasts, my experience went something like this:

Employee: Irasshaimase! Tennai de omeshiagari desuka? (Welcome! Will you be eating here?)
Me: Hai! Chizu baga o hitotsu onegai shimasu. (Yes. One cheeseburger, please.)

After paying, I took a seat and waited for the order to be ready. The truth is that most of these places are very English-speaker friendly, I assume since their menu is based off of the American one. I’m sure that if all else had failed, I could speak English and use my hands to point to the items I wanted and I would have been fine.

That should be it for fast food. Please comment on your Japanese fast food experiences if you have any; especially if you’ve been to Japanese-based burger joints!

Mata-ne!