SHIMMERING spreads of raw fish sashimi, succulent beef from massaged cows, and, for a decade, the capital with the most Michelin-starred restaurants: few nations rival Japan for fine dining. Its fast-food scene has also thrived for centuries.
SHIMMERING spreads of raw fish sashimi, succulent beef from massaged cows, and, for a decade, the capital with the most Michelin-starred restaurants: few nations rival Japan for fine dining. Its fast-food scene has also thrived for centuries. From the 1700s bowls of cold soba noodles, made from buckwheat, were cycled to wealthy clients on towering trays. Sushi began to glide past customers in 1958, when the first conveyor belt was installed. In 1970 its first homegrown hamburger chain opened, a year before McDonald’s entered the market.
Fast-food chains continued to be a rare bright spot for Japan during its two-decade-long economic slump. Since 2008 the size of the market has increased from $35bn to $45bn (those figures include convenience stores, or konbini) ; that of restaurants has declined every year in that period. But fast food is now being squeezed: by a combination of higher wages and still-tepid consumption, and by foreign rivals winning over more Japanese stomachs.
Tomoaki Ikeda, president of Yudetaro, a soba chain in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, says that after a decade of budget dining, Japanese expect everyday food to be cheap. Once, plumping for their cheapest bowl of noodles, priced at ¥320 ($3) , was considered a little shameful, he says; now it is their best-selling dish. It is having to pay staff more: a wage increase last year of 0.5% was the biggest since 2010. Yet a survey by Shinsei Bank, a lender, suggests salarymen still spent on average only ¥587 on a workday lunch last year.
