The First McDonald’s Restaurant in Japan

The First McDonald’s Restaurant in Japan

(Now, the first McDonald's store in Japan doesn't exist any more on the 1F Mitsukoshi Ginza,.)

Today, we find McDonald’s restaurants everywhere. Prices are reasonable and a meal is ready soon after your order. Especially for busy people, a McDonald’s restaurant is definitely a convenient option.

On Tuesday, July 20th 1971, Japan’s first McDonald’s shop opened suddenly on the first floor of Mitsukoshi Department Store in Ginza. Why “suddenly?” Because, to avoid any interference with the department store’s regular operations, the construction of the shop was complete in only 39 hours; beginning after the store was closed in evening on Sunday and used the following Monday, the monthly holiday of the store.

Den Fujita, the entrepreneur who held the franchise rights for McDonald’s in Japan, insisted on Ginza as the location for the first McDonald’s shop. In the United States, logical places for McDonald’s restaurants would be the suburbs, but Fujita reasoned, “When something happens in Ginza, the whole country finds out about it. If we succeed in the business here, the name “McDonald’s” spreads throughout Japan.”

The first shop was tiny with a floor area of only 50 square meters, offering a take-out service only; however, on weekends and holidays, the Ginza pedestrian precinct was soon filled with young shoppers strolling with a hamburger in one hand.

Today, McDonald’s hamburgers and eating-while-walking are something taken for granted, but in Japan in 1971, those were just new and weird; those who on the pedestrian precinct surprised many passersby.