The likes of Starbucks and McDonald’s are certainly easy to criticise, as they almost criminally continue to make cut and paste copies of countries, and conceivably even continents. An issue that is particularly pertinent in Tokyo, with one or the other — and quite often both — seemingly battling it out on every busy block.
However, when one is far away from home, familiar places and especially products are now and again nice to have nearby, although being British, fish and chips shops are decidedly few and far between, and coming across the comforting treat of a toasted crumpet is tantamount to lighting upon long lost treasure. Yet that said, it’s not exactly impossible to get merchandise from the motherland, with the availability of certain beers and possibly even a bit of public school buggery for those with a penchant for such practices.
Plus, on days when one is in the doldrums, it’s always nice to know that no matter where one is in the world, the never ending fun of novelty breasts is never far away.
Bunny says
Those breasts look EVEN!
Hades says
Well actually the very fact that these restaurant chains are carbon copies of their western counterparts is, I think, their USP.
If I wanted to eat I’d go to a Mughlai restuarant, not Pizza Hut.
That said, American fast food chains in India, at least, have localised to some extent in all the wrong ways-they don’t serve beef.
Hades says
Oops.
That should read : If I wanted to eat Mughlai food I’d go to a Mughlai restuarant, not Pizza Hut.