The doggy bag

 This is my first writing a blog. What I would like to introduce is the differences between Japan and the U.S such as; food, customs (behaviors), and cultures. I hope my blog will provide insightful information about my country.

Coming to the United States, I was afraid to go out to eat since I could not speak English well. The only familiar choice was to go to McDonald’s. And like in the movie, “Super Size Me” this was the only fast food restaurant I could go to. I drove to McDonald’s for more than one month. It was easy to order from the menu. I just needed to point to the picture and say, “number one combo please”, and I then swiped my card to pay.

I still remember vividly. One day, I ordered the Big Mac combo and an extra burger because the extra burger was supposed to be my dinner. However, I did not know the word “extra”.  I said “give me other burger” instead of “extra”.  When I got the doggy bag, there were two Big Mac combos which were supersized. Of course, I could not express myself with English, so I wasn’t able to change my order.  I was sick of eating Big Macs at that point!

By the way, the McDonald’s menu in Japan is very different than the American menu. In Japan it is common to find teriyaki-burger combos.

  It is a very popular burger to eat.  Before coming to U.S I thought I could have a McDonald’s teriyaki-burger everywhere in the world.  The other thing that surprised me was the ability to get refills on drinks.  In Japan, we do not have this system. If you want to refill, you have to buy another one. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVWz6_-6ZO8&noredirect=1