Kyoto: A Comparison of McDonald's

There are many American restaurant chains that have made their way to Japan. One of the most famously unhealthy of these establishments is McDonald's. I found them to be quite popular among the Japanese. It seemed just like Americans, Japanese people ordered value meals. I learned that there were some key differences between Japan's and America's McDonald's. One of the biggest differences came from the drinks. I ordered a medium sweet tea and got a cup smaller than the American size. But probably the most shocking of all was the fact that my sweet tea was unsweetened and I was given a small packet of corn syrup to sweeten my tea! Obviously, it is much healthier to drink unsweetened tea. My curiosity got the best of me, so I added the corn syrup after a few sips of the untainted tea. With the corn syrup, it tasted exactly like the sweet tea I was most familiar with, but I was a little disgusted by looking at the packet. Another noteworthy aspect was the chicken nuggets. Instead of offering 4, 6, 10, or 20 piece meals, in Japan you only get to choose 5 or 15 piece nuggets. These sizes might help prevent waste or overeating. I noticed that when people ordered the 15 piece it was always shared with other people. In Japan, you are also only allowed to have 3 sauces too. The fry sizes seemed to be about the same. The chicken tasted like it was fried in a different type of oil than its American counterpart, but I could be wrong. Having smaller amounts of drinks that aren't water is key to keeping calories in check. It would be a good idea for American fast-food chains to start decreasing drink sizes. Making smaller portion sizes would also be helpful.

Japan's McDonalds:


 America's McDonalds:
 The pens in the images are the exact same just different colors. I ordered the medium size in both counties. The cups are different sizes, but the fries appear to be about the same size.

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