25/7 Ian - Anthropological research, honest....

Ok, so we needed to sample a Japanese McDonalds. Purely for ethnographic research reasons, you understand, and nothing to do with my dirty cheeseburger habit at all. Glad we did though, as once again a number of cultural differences shone through. Apart from the one similarity - the same, ubiquitous, odour de McDonalds stench, consider these:

• The restaurant space was actually clean, tidy and well designed. You'd even be happy to hang around and eat something
  
• There was no evidence of damage or vandalism by any of the punters
• The toilets had superloos (yes, with aforementioned fanjita option if required) and were similarly clean, well maintained and odour free
• The staff looked genuinely happy to be there, without a pimple or any lank, greasy hair in sight
  
• Fillet o' fish (for my wife) was a big seller on the menu, rather than a niche market
  
• And get this - the gentle sounds of trad jazz playing in the background, to aid digestion of your 100% beef*
  

Well, who would have thought, eh....?!

(* which clearly doesn't mean 100% meat, even here - that would be just too good....)