International Railroad Discussion > McDonald's with a View (Japan)

I've been eyeing this location for about 4 years now.

I started visiting Japan regularly as a railfan about 4 years ago, and as a JR Rail Pass user, I'd often ride Shinkansen trains north from Tokyo to start the day's adventure. Whenever I'd sit on the "A" window side (east), I'd notice people sitting on the counter eating food in a second floor of a multi-story office building, morning and night.

They were eating inside a McDonald's! If I could see them, it was obvious they could see the train I was riding, and with a good angle to view.

Even though I visit this specific area every time I'm in Tokyo, I didn't have any motivation to eat at this particular McDonald's, since the restaurant chain had not been part of my Japan "food tourism" going back several decades. For now, I won't mention this area, but it's pretty easy to figure out once you see the images and videos I'm posting.

Things changed during my recent trip to Japan, where I HAD TO visit a McDonald's. While walking around in a Tokyo suburb one morning, I walked by a McDonald's and noticed their Happy Meal promotion - train toys! The promotion had just started, but Happy Set (Japanese name for the Happy Meal) was not available until 10:30 am. I already had a railfan mission that day (Chichibu Railway), so I continued toward my destination, found a nearby McDonald's past 10:30 am, grabbed a Happy Set, and hurried back to the train station to continue my mission.

- Image from McDonald's Japan, of their "Pla-Rail" promotion. The toys I got were from the promotions on the left. From the top, C56 steam, Fujikyu Railway's Type 8500, Shinkansen Type 500, and Doctor Yellow.

- My first Happy Set. Unlike the U.S., no special box. They stuff the food inside a regular McD bag. Cheeseburger, fries, orange juice, promotional DVD, and inside the blue bag, the Pla-Rail train toy. I ordered it to go, and I took this pic at a station before I boarded the next train.

- Video of the trains visible from inside the McDonald's, described the next post.

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Next day, my JR Rail Pass had expired, so I bought myself a JR Tokyo Day Pass and roamed around Tokyo. My first destination was to visit that McDonald's with a view. I ordered two Happy Sets, went upstairs, and immediately found a good counter seat, and started eating with my video camera on standby. (One cheeseburger, Chicken McNuggets, two sets of small fries, two cups of orange juice)

I documented all the Shinkansen types that run through the area, including the E7, E2 + E3, double-decker E4, E6 + E5, appearing in that order. I also got some Ueno-Tokyo Line trains, including the Limited Express Hitachi. You can tell by the background noise that there were kids sitting nearby. They indentified the Shinkansens by their train names ("Kagayaki", "Hayate", "MAX Toki", "Komachi", and "Hayabusa"). I had my JR system schedule with me (with not just the correct names, but also the train #), but the kids were accurate enough, and demonstrated to me that railfanning is definitely a mainstream activity in Japan.

The father and son that showed up next to me afterwards also came here for the trains. Dad bought two Happy Sets, and the kid got the C56 steam and Shinkansen Type 500 as toys. The day before, I got the Fujikyu 8500 toy, but for this visit, I also got the Type 500, and as luck would have it, Doctor Yellow toy. Yup, Doctor Yellow brings good luck, and I'll post a quick report later on witnessing a train rarer than Doctor Yellow right where I was sitting.

That's it for the McDonald's portion of the report. There's a sequel, and I'll post a separate report soon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/18 23:13 by cchan006.

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That's a "room with a chew chew"........

What caught my eye is how neatly that cheeseburger is wrapped - good luck finding somebody here that meticulous.

cchan006 Wrote:
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> Next day, my JR Rail Pass had expired, so I bought
> myself a JR Tokyo Day Pass and roamed around
> Tokyo. My first destination was to visit that
> McDonald's with a view. I ordered two Happy Sets,
> went upstairs, and immediately found a good
> counter seat, and started eating with my video
> camera on standby. (One cheeseburger, Chicken
> McNuggets, two sets of small fries, two cups of
> orange juice)
>
> I documented all the Shinkansen types that run
> through the area, including the E7, E2 + E3,
> double-decker E4, E6 + E5, appearing in that
> order. I also got some Ueno-Tokyo Line trains,
> including the Limited Express Hitachi. You can
> tell by the background noise that there were kids
> sitting nearby. They indentified the Shinkansens
> by their train names ("Kagayaki", "Hayate", "MAX
> Toki", "Komachi", and "Hayabusa"). I had my JR
> system schedule with me (with not just the correct
> names, but also the train #), but the kids were
> accurate enough, and demonstrated to me that
> railfanning is definitely a mainstream activity in
> Japan.
>
> The father and son that showed up next to me
> afterwards also came here for the trains. Dad
> bought two Happy Sets, and the kid got the C56
> steam and Shinkansen Type 500 as toys. The day
> before, I got the Fujikyu 8500 toy, but for this
> visit, I also got the Type 500, and as luck would
> have it, Doctor Yellow toy. Yup, Doctor Yellow
> brings good luck, and I'll post a quick report
> later on witnessing a train rarer than Doctor
> Yellow right where I was sitting.
>
> That's it for the McDonald's portion of the
> report. There's a sequel, and I'll post a separate
> report soon.

It's on my "Bucket lList" !!! Thank you for sharing!!! :):):)

Railbaron Wrote:
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> What caught my eye is how neatly that cheeseburger
> is wrapped - good luck finding somebody here that
> meticulous.

Had one last week. Some franchise owners actually enforce the standards.