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One issue I want to spend more time on going forward is the “Weird Japan” phenomenon. As I discussed in my write-up of the Logan Paul incident, “Weird Japan” is a form of “othering” that regards Japan as outside the mainstream of world cultures. This attitude leads people to believe practically any random crap about the country. As a result, the English press routinely runs stories about Japan that, quite simply, aren't true.

Your Honor, I hereby submit the latest evidence into the court record.

Racy Fries?

This week, some Twitter users popularized pictures of what they said were McDonald's ads from Japan. The most attention-grabbing of these ads (see above) depicts Ronald McDonald with a bundle of fries tucked neatly into a g-string.

A writer at the food site Delish.com saw these tweets and ran with them. The writer, Megan Schaltegger, apparently didn't consult anyone from Japan, or anyone who follows Japan as a hobby or profession. Instead, she took the tweets at face value, giving us the headline: “We Need to Talk About This NSFW McDonald's Advertisement With A Raunchy Ronald McDonald.”

[UPDATE] We Need To Talk About This NSFW Raunchy Ronald McDonald Picture @YourEverydayAsian / Instagram Update, 10/1/19, 5:20 p.m.: The pictures in question are not actually from a McDonald's adbut are actually Yotteba ads, the Daily Mail reports. Yotteba is a Japanese chain of tapas restaurants/pubs known locally for their “offbeat” postings and marketing.

Introducing Yotteba

The problem is…these aren't McDonald's ads.

The Japanese text on the left-hand side reads: “Of course, we serve them in Yotteba's original container” (もちろん酔っ手羽オリジナルものに入って提供です). Yotteba ( 酔っ手羽 ) is the name of a Japanese izakaya (pub/small-plates) chain in Japan. Izakaya, as we've discussed before, are frequently called “pubs” in English. But they're perhaps more akin to Spanish tapas. Stores like Yotteba offer a sizable number of small plates (usually costing no more than around 600 yen (under USD $6) a pop) alongside a variety of beer, sake, whiskey, and other alcoholic drinks.

Yotteba has 32 stores across Japan, with the majority centered in the Tokyo Metro area. You'll notice the store's name also features prominently on the container of fries in the Roman alphabet. I guess the people who made this viral just assumed it meant “Yummy clown scrotum” or something in Japanese.

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Yotteba's existence is plain to anyone who knows Japanese and can spend two minutes on Google. A search on Google Images for 酔っ手羽, for example, reveals ads picturing the same figure who appears in the upper-right-hand corner of the “McDonald's ad.” There's even a separate ad featuring the fries that uses the exact same ad copy as the faux Ronald ad.

Another of Yotteba's tongue-in-cheek ads for its “original” fries.

Nearly all of Yotteba's ads are a little offbeat. And the container design – and the ads – are clearly tongue in cheek. Yotteba knows it's mimicking the Golde Arches with this ploy. And it appears happy to keep the gag running to appeal to its customer base: adults looking for someplace to eat and drink after work.

The Importance of Knowing Experts

I'm not saying that it's impossible that McDonald's Japan would run some racy ads. Marketing departments sometimes make daft decisions. Some of you might remember in 2015 when Bud Light promoted its beer with the slogan “The perfect beer for removing ‘no' from your vocabulary for the night.” Critics condemned Bud Light for promoting rape, and the company pulled the ad.

But any thinking adult should know that it's highly, highly unlikely that a McDonald's marketing department anywhere in the world would approve these ads. A writer's first instinct here should be to stop and think, “Maybe I should ask someone who's Japanese.” Or, “Maybe I should ask someone who studies Japan.” (Unseen Japan is always open to such consults; don't hesitate to contact us.)

In other words, this is a prime example of “Weird Japan” in action. The Western press has spilled much ink over Japan's crazy game shows and sexless ways. Every story that's run about the guy who “married” Hatsune Miku reinforces these impressions of Japan as “bizarre” and “different.” It doesn't help that most non-Japanese can't speak Japanese, and can't easily see the normal, everyday side of the country. Nor does it help that the country's largest English language exports are the fantasy worlds of anime and manga.

Put all of this together, and it's easy to see how misreporting occurs. With so much emphasis placed on Japan's “weirdness,” people easily succumb to taking the most unbelievable news at face value.

Let this serve as a cautionary tale. If you're someone writing about Japan and you don't specialize in the country (or speak the language), consult someone who does before you rush to print. And if you're a reader, don't believe everything you read just because it comes from a popular site.

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