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Comment by bitwize | Hacker News Reader

And yet... when I went to Japan, McDonald's had block busting lines.

It's a novelty there. But I think the point is that in Japan, healthy and local but fast food is something you can get at a train station, while that's rare in the U.S. I'm in and out of Union Station (DC) and Penn Station (NYC) all the time. What can you get to go in those places? Besides McDonalds, Pizza, Chipotle, etc., you've got deli sandwiches. Which are just awful in comparison to the options you have in Japan. (And even the deli sandwiches are better in Japan--the random place at the airport is comparable to what you can get at the specialty Italian market near my house.)

McDonalds has been in Japan since 1971, and occupies precisely the same culinary niche as it does in the US: cheap, fast and crappy. (Although, this being Japan, they're not quite as crappy as in most countries.) In my uni days students used to go there and buy bags full of their 59 yen burgers, because the calories-for-buck ratio was better than instant ramen.

McDonald's sales shrank (for the first time ever?) a few years back so they have been trying hard to not suck.

Hey there's a Tim Horton's! Kidding.. I got a decent chicken parm the last time I was there but most of the food inside Penn Station is pretty heavy and/or mediocre. Wasabi (the sushi place) was pricey and didn't look particularly appealing to me.

If you want better food you may as well hoof it to Koreatown especially if you think you may have to use the toilet. The toilets at Penn Station are truly the things of nightmares. I didn't go to Koreatown because I had a bunch of luggage, but that's another problem you wouldn't have in Japan.

Meanwhile the food options at SFO are generally pretty decent (if pricey) and the sushi place seems to be a surprisingly good value. If the Salesforce Transbay Terminal ever reopens it'll be interesting to see if the city puts any effort at attracting decent food there.

There are at least a dozen food stalls on the lower level of Union Station. Most of the food is garbage, but the sushi place is decent.

I’m a huge fan of the Bojangles there but it proves my point.

Penn Station definitely has a bento place though (wasabi).

Ehhhhh.

We have a Cava now in Union! Delish.

I believe McD is considered a step up from diners in Japan. It's perceived/positioned completely differently than in the US, possibly closer to Starbucks or some such?

That was until their meat scandal a couple of years ago. That required some very deep apologies and revenues still went way down and are only slowly recovering now. Boutique burger trend doesn‘t help either.

There was the chicken scandal. Around the same time they had the "your food in 60 seconds or its free" disaster. Lately they have been advertising their improved ingredients

"your food in 60 seconds or its free" disaster.

Now I'm curious, what was the disaster?

Basically it's impossible to make a McDonald's order correctly in 60 seconds:

https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135743773494825901

Japanese expect their food to look pretty much exactly like the picture or wax model that is displayed in front of the shop.

https://i.imgur.com/ftY6DZi.jpg

Portion sizes are also much smaller.

Yea, they're the right size like many Japanese foods instead of the "make me obese" size that's served at too many places in the USA

from 5pm you can get double meat on any burger for ¥100 ($1): http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/campaign/yorumac/

And yet... Japanese aren't obese and have a huge food culture (not just imported ones).

Obesity on the rise as Japanese eat more Western-style food https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/03/11/national/scienc...

We know this.

Over priced garbage (fast food) -> high salt/sugar/wtf ever intake -> Health issues -> Overpriced garbage ('super' foods, supplements)

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