So the other day I ate at Burger King. As you all know, Burger King has been in exile from Japan for a few years, having failed to make a significant dent in the market during his brief initial reign, due to constant assassination attempts from the usurper Ronald. But now he's back and ready to give Japan a second shot. Of course, the best way to enter Japan is riding on a wave of hype, and that is exactly what our beleaguered King has done, to great effect. The first restaurant of the new era opened in Shinjuku last month to lines two hours long. Crazy, right?

But of course, I didn't wait in a line like that. They opened a second restaurant in Ikebukuro a week later, so I went there and only had to wait about ten minutes. And I got a Whopper. And it was pretty good. I hadn't eaten a Whopper in about 5 years, so it's hard to compare the taste to the ones they sell in the US, but it was the same as far as I can tell. Definitely a lot better than McDonald's, and worth the maybe 100 yen price difference between the Whopper and the Big Mac. I would eat there again, except for the fact that the closest one to my house is in Ikebukuro, while there's a McDonald's in every train station in Japan. Not that I ever eat McDonald's; it's maybe once every three months.