Posted on 08/17/2025 4:55:29 AM PDT by xp38
Tokyo — McDonald's Japan has canceled a Happy Meal campaign that came with coveted Pokemon cards, apologizing after resellers rushed to buy the meals and then discarded the food, leaving trash outside stores. The meals, called Happy Sets in Japan, were meant for children. They came with a toy, such as a tiny plastic Pikachu, and a Pokemon card. They sold out in a day, according to Japanese media reports. Mounds of wasted food were found near the stores.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
That’s right.
I’ve been there many, many, times. I always find something fascinating about the place. TV channels, where I can’t tell if the intended audience is for adults or kids. The obsession with caricatures & cartoons. The whole “bathing culture”.
There’s much I respect though; low crime, politeness, clean streets, tradition, formality, etc.. And there’s NOTHING they won’t apply technology to! Albeit a bit annoying at times, not knowing which toilet button to push just to flush it!
Most Happy Meal promos officially last a month, with 4 waves of prizes coming over 4 weeks. Officially because they usually don’t sell out for a bit, sometimes never. So they just spiked the next 3 weeks of stuff.
Looking at the comments, I can’t figure out if people are more upset with Chinese or McDonald’s.
Grownups get greedy
Small things amuse small minds
“Chinese tourists. The locusts of the travel world.”
Probably the case. If they’re tossing garbage it is DEFINITELY not the Japanese. Could also be American DEIs too.
I remember they did same when the prize were mini beanie babies back during the beanie baby craze. Adults would buy the Happy Meals and toss the food just to get the prize - garbage cans were full of not-eaten Happy Meals.
“I think it comes from many generations of cradle-to-grave socialized society.”
Indirectly. The main problem is small families - no need to learn independence and start your own life when you’re an only-child, just take a crap job and live at home with your parents.
The root cause of their collapsing population, of course, is letting women into what were men-only professions, which often means no time for kids, no interest in kids, no [practical] way to continue ‘career advancement’ with kids at home. Obviously letting women vote forced this system to be set up in the first place.
...and true, one of the first objectives of Socialism was getting women out of the home, and they KICKED ASS in doing that, and so we all get to see the end of Western Civilization.
Mamdani is going to pledge you will given Pokemon cards without having to buy anything.
That sounds like a very limited supply of cards, maybe extremely valuable.
Bound to be counterfeit cards out there now, if they weren't out there before.
What passes for entertainment in Asia. Maybe they can substitute the insufferable Hello Kitty. And Matt Walsh’s rants on anime are classic
The funny thing is that the Chinese probably made the toys, shipped them to McDonald’s in Japan where richer Chinese go to buy them by the dozens to scalp them. Meanwhile other factories in China are making counterfeits.
Kiddo just started getting into Pokémon. I was newer into the cards, but the first game boy games came out right at the right time frame for kid-me.
Why would they give away special/unique cards with happy meals? Why not just regular cards that won’t draw in Chinese scalpers, but young kids will just be happy to get anything?
They make fun kid things too expensive and, sometimes, too dangerous for children to enjoy.
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