McSushi

Dear Mr. Gross,
Although you are staying in Japan for a few weeks, and maybe even have a local friend or two, you do not seem to have a grasp on reality when it comes to Japanese culture. Your article about American food taking over Japan was ridiculous. It seems like you looked out of your hotel room window in Tokyo and saw some American fast food chains and decided to kill time. What you failed to mention was the fact that although the names are the same, the menus are very different, and the service is beyond anything you get in the states. I think you should also state in your article is that although it seems that American food is taking over ???Japan???, what you are really talking about is Tokyo, just one city in an entire country. My advice to you is to jump on the Shinkansen to lets say, Yamagata, and tell me how many American food chains you see.
So please enjoy your vacation or whatever you are doing in Japan, but stop trying to come across as some expert on Japanese culture, because you obviously are not.

At first glance, one might assume that it's easy for U.S. fast food chains to infiltrate Japan. In fact, most of the U.S. fast food chains currently in Japan were only able to enter the Japanese market by entering into 50-50 joint ventures with large Japanese corporations. For example, Starbucks Japan is a JV between Starbucks and Japanese retailer Sazaby.
The only food imports that are relatively "easy" are commodities that cannot be economically grown on Japan's very limited farmland, i.e., grains, hay products, corn and soybeans (the latter of which are mostly for use in livestock feeds and processed foods, not sold as edamame and sweet corn in the supermarkets).
BTW, I agree with those who have pointed out that American food is no more popular than other types of food in Japan. Particularly in the metropolitan cities, Japanese enjoy a broad spectrum of non-Japanese foods.

At first glance, one might assume that it's easy for U.S. fast food chains to infiltrate Japan. In fact, most of the U.S. fast food chains currently operating in Japan were only able to enter the Japanese market by entering into 50-50 joint ventures with major Japanese corporations. For example, Starbucks Japan is a JV between Starbucks and Japanese retailer Sazaby. The only food imports that are relatively "easy" are commodities that are not economical to grow on Japan's limited farmland, i.e., grains, hay products, corn and soybeans (the corn and soybeans being mostly for use in livestock feeds and processed foods, not sold as edamame and sweet corn in the supermarkets).
BTW, I agree with those who have pointed out that American food is no more popular than other types of food in Japan. Particularly in the metropolitan cities, Japanese enjoy a broad spectrum of non-Japanese foods.

A throwaway line in the article is that "Esperanto may be dead."

I assure you folks, it is very much alive and well. Esperanto has a small but strong and faithful following who see it as a great tool for international communication. There's original literature, printed magazines, and films, rock music, conventions and guest services. The Esperanto Wikipedia is active and among the best, with dozens of "Feature level" articles. All of this is happening right now.

Although it is intended as an easy-to-learn second language, I know a few people who learned Esperanto as a first language (along with the mother-tongue of their home country). Mom and Dad meet from different cultures, speak Esperanto as a common language, and their child usually grows up in a trilingual environment, chief of those being Esperanto. Probably the most famous is billionaire George Soros, but there are hundreds more like him.

So, please get your facts straight. Ironically, the 2007 World Esperanto Congress was held in Japan, bringing people from 57 countries speaking a common language. A simple check on Google would have helped out here, I think.

While these chains exist in Japan (along with Denny's and a few others), they are not necessarily more popular than homegrown competitors such as MOS Burger (my own favorite), Royal Host, and Doutor, to name a few. It's also worth noting that these brands familiar to us in America have adapted their menu to be successful in Japan; for example, I've never seen the Teriyaki Burger served at a stateside McDonald's.
While individual experiences can vary, I also must say that I've always been well-treated in Japan and there are LOTS of good places to eat in the Tokyo/Kanto area. When in Japan it's definitely worthwhile to try the local fare which consists of considerably more than sushi.

You should go to the so-called "Famili- Restoran" which are strange amalgams of Western foods prepared in an utterly Japanese way and suited to the Japanese palette. But overall foreigners should avoid the tried-and-true Western chains, exercise their bravery and go eat some truly authentic and delicious Japanese foods like nabe, tonkatsu, kushi-katsu, and okonomiyaki.

Head down to Osaka - the people are friendlier and the food is better. Avoid Tokyo as much as possible unless you absolutely have to work there.

japan is offering immigrants from south america money to leave. why? because they need their jobs for japanese? the truth is that the japanese are the most racist people on earth. i stayed in tokyo for 2 nights and had been refused entry into many bars, resturants, and nightclubs in the downtown area near the airport. no sooner that i would walk thru the door, employees AND SOMETIME CUSTOMERS would shout in japaneese and wave their hands at me gestureing for me to GET OUT. some places i could not enter because the doors were locked by a buzzer and they would not open the door for me. i have heard of this happening to black people in japan but i am white.

"the author forgot to answer the main question he started with -- why are these chains so popular?" x2
wasted my time to read this crap

the author forgot to answer the main question he started with -- why are these chains so popular? Instead, the article reads like a beefed up version of a travel diary. How disappointing.

the author forgot to answer the main question he himself posed -- why are these chains popular? Instead, the article is just a beefed up version of a travel diary. how disappointing.

I am disappointed with Daniel Gross's comment that "Esperanto may be dead". In fact, this planned language is very much alive, and it is not hatrd to find Esperanto speakers in Japan and elsewhere.

I am disappointed with Daniel Gross's comment that "Esperanto may be dead". In fact, this planned language is very much alive, and it is not hatrd to find Esperanto speakers in Japan and elsewhere.

What incredibly shallow reporting in this article! Basing a review of US food infiltration into Japan on signs seen on the airport limo ride to the hotel would hardly be accepted in a college rag, and is surprising and somewhat disappointing inNewsweek. If the author's book has the same calibre of research, then I for one would not put much stock in it.

Yes, the post-war hero worship of things American largely continues and has caused the sprouting of Makku and Staba like poisonous toadstools on every corner. But those who have lived here a decade can see the damage caused - the joy of finding a hideaway izakaya or mise with handmade, organic, or at least shockingly fresh food has turned into an often fruitless quest as the American fast food machine and indigenous Japanese imitators blot the landscape. Give it ten more years, and the only good sushi might be found on the other side of the Pacific.

As for the erosion of Japan's self-sufficiency, the author, as an economic writer, should have checked inbto how US domestic subsidies and lobbying have warped the Japan foodtable, so that many of the soy beans eaten here are now grown in the USA, while varieties of bean only found in Japan are grown less and are thus dying out.

If anything should be allowed to die out, it is articles like these, which pleasantly smirk at the destruction of a regional culture without investigating the causes or their own complicity in it.

I wouldn't call being worldly the same as preferring american food over Japanese. Like everyone, Japanese like variation and especially enjoy trying new and different foods and eating environments, though even the 'typically american' chain restaurants are always modified to better benefit the native .

Then perhaps they could find it in their hearts to stop murdering whales for lunch.

I am afraid the author has not done sufficient research, at least when it comes to Japan's attitude towards cars. About 12 years ago, on one of my first trips to Japan, I eagerly attempted to engage a Japanese employee at my company's Tokyo office in a conversation about the Nissan GT-R which at that time was not sold in the US and had something of a cult following the US. His response shocked me at that time. The gist of it was "Japanese cars are junk, we all want BMWs."

As I looked around Tokyo thereafter, I noticed that there was no shortage of BMWs, Ferriaris, Porsches, Bentleys and other European cars. There are not many American cars, but there are a few.

Also, as to food, Japan loves cusine from all over the world, not just the US. The Micheline Guide gave out more stars in Tokyo than in Paris with good reason. There is more high quality food of all varieties available in Tokyo than in any other world city I have visited.

It is because the Japanese look up to the Americans - everything from the US is better and more supreme than anything else since they consider themselves the best race in Asia. . .