Burger King is currently celebrating their 5th year in Japan. But in an already saturated fast food market the famous American chain is a little late to the game.

So, in an effort to truly stand out from the crowd, Burger King Japan has designed fast food’s first black hamburger. Dubbed the Kuro Burger (lit. Black Burger), it will go on sale for a limited time starting 28 September.

At first glance it looks as if someone over toasted the bun, but the Kuro Burger uses fresh bread blackened by mixing bamboo charcoal into the dough. The other unique feature is Burger King Japan’s original Black Flavored Ketchup, which is traditional ketchup blended with garlic and squid ink and specially seasoned for an extra kick.

The rest of the components are fairly standard BK fare. There’s a whopper class (113g/4oz) beef patty, pickles, tomato, onion, lettuce, and mayonnaise. Strangely there’s no black pepper listed.

As a part of the 5th anniversary of BK Japan, the burger’s value meal will be sold at a discounted price of 790 yen (US$10). The burger alone will go for 450 yen (US$5.75) at Burger King locations across Japan.

To say this is a bold move is certainly an understatement. The response on the internet has been leaning towards the negative with names such as “cockroach burger” or “iron ball.” I can help but be intrigued by this sandwich though. According to the description the only unpleasant things in there are the pickles. Otherwise it sounds pretty good.

We’ll just have to wait until next week to see if Japan can overcome its burger racism and embrace the Kuro Burger.

Source: Burger King via Himatsubushi News (Japanese)