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New McDonald's Campaign In Japan Imagines Americans As Nerdy, From Ohio

McDonald's is launching a new ad campaign in Japan, this time revolving around four new burgers they're making available exclusively on the island nation. To spearhead the effort, they're rolling out their local mascot Mr. James, a kind of stereotypical American nerd who speaks broken Japanese but is very, very exuberantly bubbly about it. The only problem is that the actual Americans who live in Japan loathe the character, who is roughly the reverse equivalent of when Americans put on fake Japanese accents by turning 'l's into 'r's.

Except on top of having pronunciation problems, Mr. James is an incoherent and painfully annoying simpleton. He stars in a number of spots in this campaign, going to McDonald's locations all over Japan and musing about his favorite burgers. He even has a blog, on which he goes into deep background about his Ohio birthplace and about how he loves to shower foreigners with cash. That last bit isn't part of the stereotype; it has something to do with a cash prize McDonald's is giving out, but the rest of the ensemble has Japan's small foreign community less than pleased:

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Tags: Most-Shocking-McDonalds-Locations / McDonalds / Israel Travel / Negev Desert / McShawarma / → All Tags

Eat Your McShawarma In the Middle of the Negev Desert

A "shocked" tipster sent in this shot of a shocking McDonald's location yesterday saying:

While driving from Tel Aviv to the Israel’s resort city Eilat, on the Red Sea, we stumbled upon a random McDonalds in the Negev Desert…the middle of nowhere!!

We actually had quite a tough time trying to find the address of this place, namely because we can't read Hebrew. But we think we've got the right location on our map, thanks to a translator. (If it's not, let us know.)

And like our tipster, you will probably roll through the The Negev Desert as you make you way to the south of Israel to the resort towns. So perhaps sensing a need for a fast food stop for all these resort trekkers, someone opened up McDonald's (with a McCafe!) along this route.

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More McDonald's Locations That Make You Go 'Hmmm....'

Yesterday we put forth five "shocking" McDonald's locations, places that make us question why some overeager McDonald's franchiser chose to disrupt the serenity/beauty/awesomeness of an ancient site with the "can't miss 'em" yellow Golden Arches and the overpowering smell of salty, oil-drenched fries.

While we can't answer that question--other than to say "money, money, money"--we do have a few more shocking McDonald's locations to add to our map, courtesy of some wonderful tipsters.

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Tags: Most Shocking McDonalds / Most-Shocking-McDonalds-Locations / McDonalds / Fast Food Travel / → All Tags

The Most Shocking McDonald's Locations in The World

You often hear people say that when Armageddon comes, the only survivors left will be cockroaches and Cher. Well, you might want to add McDonald's to the survivors list too.

There are over 31,000 McDonald's locations world-wide and the catchphrase, "I'm loving it" has been translated to at least 16 different languages. And even though the menus may vary from country to country, the Golden Arches remain.

Of course, we expect to find McDonald's in bustling city centers, airports, and suburban spots frequented by moms in minivans, but nothing can quite prepare us for the shock we feel when stepping out of an ancient palace, museum, or monument and the Golden Arches are beckoning us to come inside and order a Big Mac (or if you're in Norway, a McLak salmon sandwich.)

Below are five shocking McDonald's locations that we've found. We know that there are more out there, so go on and send us your most shocking McDonald's location moment. Don't be shy -- send us photos, stories, you know the drill and we will get the golden arches up on our Most Shocking McDonald's in the World Map.

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The French Could Care Less if Pharrell Williams Wants a Big Mac

We're not quite sure the employees at this McDonalds in a Paris airport would even care if Pharrell Williams could order a big mac in French--if they ain't open, they ain't open!

The performer/producer popped into the McDonalds wanting some food so desperately he even said he might miss his flight. (Side questions from us: What? Aren't you flying first class? Don't they serve you food in there? You really want Mickey D's that badly?)

Then he launched into a song and Jacko-inspired dance singing, "Big mac, filet o' fish, quarter pounder, french fries, icy cold milkshake, sundaes and apple pie." However, those airport employees could care less. They weren't yet open and when they did open, they would only be serving breakfast. One employee even left the McDonalds, leaving Pharrell totally disappointed that he wasn't getting no "Big mac, filet o' fish, quarter pounder, french fries, icy cold milkshake, sundaes and apple pie."

While we're sure Pharrell found some comfort in first class, we totally can identify with begging McDonalds to serve us a sausage McMuffin at 11am, even though they stopped serving breakfast at 10:30am. That truly is a universal struggle.

Related Stories:
· P vs. McDonalds [YouTube]
· McDonalds Coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: McDonalds / Fast Food / Restaurants / Design / → All Tags

What Will McDonald's Look Like In the Future?

Believe it or not, that is what McDonald's will look like in the future.

McDonald’s is an essential part of the travel experience. The American icon meets you before you make it to your gate, it’s often the only place for coffee on the way to the airport, and almost every country on earth has one—like it or not.

That’s why we’re happy to hear Ronald and company are sprucing things up a bit, and have hired a design firm to refresh and update their image. If you’re going to eat some McNuggets you might as well do it in style.

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Tags: Yay America! / Food Travel / McDonalds / → All Tags

A Few Dozen Reasons To Try A Foreign McDonald's

Just before we took off for our Christmas holiday, Serious Eats posted a top 10 list of the zaniest McDonald's specials around the world. While the short list was interesting enough, the 50+ comments had us making a mental trip around the commodified world.

Among the geographically limited menu items that had us actually considering a meal at Mickey D's were the McLaks, a salmon sandwich in Norway, and the green papaya salad available in Thailand. Commenters chime in with more curiosities like kiwi sundaes in Korea and veggie burgers in India. (We will not be booking a flight to the Philippines, though, to try McSpaghetti, with tomato sauce, frankfurters and grated cheese.)

Reminds us of a recent trip to Argentina during which Beijing Burgers were on offer for a limited time. We didn't get a chance to taste one, but we did have a café cortado at the McCafé across from the Obelisk in Buenos Aires. It tasted like McDonald's coffee.

Related Stories:
· Top 10 Improbable McDonald's Items from Around the World [Serious Eats]
· Food Travel: Get Your China Fix at McD's [Jaunted]

[Photo: Juan Ignacio Iglesias]

Tags: Food Travel / Olympics / Beijing Olympics / 2008 Olympics / Beijing Olympics 2008 / McDonalds / Videos / → All Tags

Food Travel: Get Your China Fix at McD's

Can't make it to China for the Olympics? McDonald's locations in Argentina and Colombia will be serving up Beijing Burgers (topped with chop suey and ginger sauce) in the lead-up to the games, and restaurants there will also be serving fried rice sticks in addition to the usual French fries.

In Denmark, dietitians from the country's national team helped create a chicken Olympic burger. And Australia will get five new burgers in honor of the competition: The American, The Euro, The African, The Asian and The Australian.

Finally a reason to go to McD's while on the road!

Related Stories:
· McDonald's to Offer Olympics-Inspired Menus [Serious Eats]
· Food Travel coverage [Jaunted]