Models Momo Eri and Tsubasa Masuwaka at the campaign launch

During the Nihon Bara-Iro Keikaku, or Japan Rose-Color Project, customers who buy a Quarter or Double Quarter Pounder Cheese get a pink badge and scratch-card, with the opportunity to win one of 50 free T-shirts. Early in the campaign, the T-shirts were also on sale at the McDonald’s on Center Gai, the upper floor of which was turned into a store reminiscent of a pink Graniph or UT. Some of the Ts were emblazened with tongue-in-cheek messages, such as “I Have Not Been Trading Stocks.”

In this way, behind the rosey color, the campaign makes a deeper pitch at consumers’ sensitivities. Members of the fan club can submit “Big Mouth” comments about the state of Japan today, including hopes, worries and messages of encouragement, such as from ‘Kenta’ in Oita Prefecture to people looking for jobs: “To change the current Japan, it does not take a person with good education, but with the spirit to challenge everything.” Or from ‘Chibisuke’ in Chiba to people who hate their overcrowded commutes: “Leave it to me! I’ll make the trains bigger. I already finished the designs.”

Singer Amuro Namie was chosen as the campaign model, reflecting the personal struggles she has overcome with the death of her mother, divorce and personal reinvention as an artist. The television commercial shows her fighting with herself in a video game, and tells viewers to “Keep Winning for Yourself” and “Laugh at Everything.”

McDonald's Premium Roast Coffee sells for less than half the price of Starbucks.

McDonald’s Japan is experiencing brisk sales of its “Premium Roast Coffee.” The coffee is made from South American beans, and packaged in a sleekly designed cup with a black lid.

The launch was prompted by research showed that while coffee had mainly been ordered as a side item for meals at McDonald’s, in recent years more customers have been coming to McDonald’s only for coffee. To launch the product, new standardized coffee machines were installed in all locations, to insure that consumers had the same taste experience at all shops.

Premium Roast Coffee went on sale in February 2008, for 100 yen, and the price was raised to 120 yen in August of that year. A short size coffee at Starbucks, by comparison, costs 290 yen. 160 million cups of McDonald’s Premium Roast Coffee were sold by the end of 2008.

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One of only two Quarter Pounder locations in Japan.

Interiors are done in minimal black.

McDonald’s Japan briefly sold the Quarter Pounder sandwich nation-wide in the late 1990s, before dropping the item from menus. Beginning last November, they began test marketing Quarter Pounder sets at 40 McDonald’s branches in Kumamoto, a city of 1.5 million people in Kyushu.

On November 5th, a launch campaign began in Tokyo, with two McDonald’s locations in Shibuya and nearby Omotesando being totally converted to “Quarter Pounder” shops. The restaurants offer only two choices on the menu: a Quarter Pounder set for 500 yen, and a Double Quarter Pounder set for 600 yen. The interiors are minimal black, and feature Le Corbusier sofas. Interestingly enough, there is no discernable connection to McDonald’s. No golden arches, no yellow, no Ronald. Japanese consumers are not likely to know exactly what a pound is, or a quarter for that matter, but no clues are offered on the ultra-minimal Quarter Pounder website.

A contest is being run till the end of November, with a grand prize of a sightseeing trip to America being offered to ten couples. To enter the contest, applicants must answer a single question: Which fast food chain launched the Quarter Pounder in Japan?

The minimal Quarter Pounder website.

The new Mega Teriyaki and MegaEgg Muffin sandwiches.

Mc Donalds Japan has brought back another incarnation of the MegaMac. This time, instead of limiting the number of MegaMacs available per day, the company has come up with a schedule – MegaMcMuffins are available until 10:30 in the morning, the MegaMac afterwards, and from 7:00 in the evening the MegaTeriyaki goes on sale.

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McDonald’s Official Site (Japanese)

The new Mega Teriyaki and MegaEgg Muffin sandwiches.

McDonald’s giant hamburger MegaMac has been so successful that the company will release a teriyaki version, broiled in a sweet soy sauce marinade, and MegaEgg Muffin.

Learn more:
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McDonald’s Official Site (Japanese)