Maku Donarudo no Miruku

Living in a land where the people learn their English by the phonetic of their own language ain't easy. I have to say 'mi-ru-ku' for 'milk', and the phonetic of 'open campus' is the one that I found most hilarious so far, 'o-pun kyan-pa-su'! Another one that I found quite funny is 'se-bun e-re-bun' for 'Seven Eleven'. The alphabet 'W' is pronounced as 'da-bu-ru' and it is widely used to denote 'double'.

I have to do the double encoding every time I read the Katakana, firstly is to pronounce it in the Japanese phonetic for the words, and then match them with the English words that sound close to them during the second round of encoding. No one understands you if you speak proper English. If you are asking for McDonald's, you need to pronounce it as Ma-ku Do-na-ru-do!

Ma-ku Do-na-ru-do Ham Ba-ga!

Some of the McDonald's outlets do have English signboards.

The yellow double-arch symbol is the easiest to recognise.

If you want milk at Ma-ku Do-na-ru-do, you should say mi-ru-ku to the crew.

Maku Donarudo no Miruku.

The burgers at Japanese McDonald's are pathetically small. Even the Big Mac is just as small as a normal Ramly burger back in Malaysia. Therefore, they have the Mega Mac! I don't think this is available outside of Japan.

Me-ga Ma-ku.

Even though the Mega Mac comes with four beef patties, it is just equivalent to a Big Mac outside of Japan due to its diameter being three quarters of a normal Big Mac in Malaysia.

"Four all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun!"

What I like about McDonald's is that they have the special menu in line with the flavour of each respective country. In Japan, you can get the Mega Teriyaki Burger, but just for a limited period of time. The normal Teriyaki Burger is always available, though.

Even Mega looks small in Japan.

It's a Big Mac in teriyaki sauce.

Another item I tried on the special menu for a limited period of time is the Salsa Chicken Fillet Burger.

Sa-ru-sa Chi-kin Fi-re Ba-ga.

It's actually a chicken burger with salsa sauce.

My favourite of all the items on the regular menu has got to be the McPork! I can never get these in Malaysia! The best part is, each one is only ¥100!

Ma-ku Po-ku, double shot!

The king of all patties, pork patty!