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 Japa

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.