Fast Food in Japan

choi

Fast food in Japan l Feeling Sandwiched; Burger and buckwheat-noodle joints alike are looking for extra sizzle. Economist, Apr 22, 2017.
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... se-fast-food-chains

Note:
(a) "for a decade [from the context: the past 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. * * *  In 1970 its first homegrown hamburger chain opened, a year before McDonald's entered the market."
(i)
(A) soba  蕎麦
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soba
(thin noodle; Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup)
(B) pseudocereal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudocereal
(Examples of pseudocereals are amaranth 苋菜 [with seeds], quinoa, and buckwheat)
(ii) "cold [and semi-dry] soba noodles, made from buckwheat, were cycled to wealthy clients on towering trays"

Johnny, Photographs of Old Japan's Glorious Art of Soba Delivery. Apr 13, 2015.
www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/04/13/ ... t-of-soba-delivery/

These, and similar photos, are all black-and-white and taken in Shōwa period 昭和時代 (1926 - 1989), hinting that this is no longer done.
(A) "Soba shop delivery" in Japanese is 蕎麦屋の出前 (pronounced as "soba ya no dema-e).
(B) The "de" and "ma-e" are Japanese pronunciation of kanji 出 and 前. Why 出前?  The "demae" sound came first, and then Japanese found these two kanji conveniently matching the sound.  This is called ateji  当て字/宛字.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji
(C) Soba trays can be round or rectangular, stackable or not.
(iii) "In 1970 its first homegrown hamburger chain opened"
(A) Its name was/is "DOM DOM" (in English).  (In the Web, store sign shows a space between the two DOM's.)
(B) ja.wikipedia.org: "ドムドムハンバーガーの名前の由来は、親会社であったダイエーの企業理念「良い品をどんどん安く」のどんどんを取ったもの。しかし、「どんどん（DONDON）」は商標登録されていたため、ドムドムハンバーガー（DOMDOM）となった。"

my translation: Dom Dom Hamburger's name came from then parent company Daiei 大栄's corporate vision/philosophy/mission: good things rapidly/steadily どんどん get cheaper and cheaper [大栄's 一貫 slogan was 価格破壊]. However, the (usual) transliteration DONDON had been registered, so it was rendered DOMDOM.

choi

(b) "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 [shortened from 'convenience store;' Japanese language does not have 'v' sound]); that of restaurants has declined every year in that period. But fast food is now being squeezed * * * Tomoaki IKEDA 池田 智昭, president 社長 of Yudetarō, 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 新生銀行 [so named because its previous incarnation  had been riddled with bad debts following the 1989 asset bubble, was nationalized and sold to an Americans-led consortium], a lender, suggests salarymen still spent on average only ¥587 on a workday lunch last year. * * * Konbini offer everything from cheap egg-salad sandwiches to rice lunch-boxes that can be reheated and eaten in-store. According to Euromonitor, a market-research firm, 7-Eleven, one of Japan's three biggest konbini, accounts for over a third of the fast-food market alone by value."
(i) ゆで太郎
Yudetaro.jp
(A) Japanese-English dictionary:
* yuderu 茹でる 【ゆでる】 (v): "(See 煮る・にる) to boil (something in hot water)"
(B) The difference between 茹でる and 煮る is that in the former, food (soba, spaghetti etc) is boiled in water (no flavor added) whereas in the latter seasoning, spices and other ingredients are added to food.
(ii) plump (vi): "to favor or decide in favor of someone or something strongly or emphatically —used with for"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plump

(c) "MOS Burger * * * Since 1987 it has sold a rice-burger variant that swaps out bread halves for seared rice cakes, and since 2004 a lettuce-burger (lettuce-for-buns [a thick pile of lettuce in lieu of a bun on both sides of the beef patty, all INSIDE a wrap]). * * * MOS's arch-rival, Makku—McDonald's Japan."
(i)
(A) MOS Burger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Burger
(MOS stands for "Mountain Ocean Sun"/ is now the second-largest fast-food franchise in Japan after McDonald's Japan, and owns numerous overseas outlets over East Asia; Founder Atsushi SAKURADA 櫻田 厚; based in Tokyo)
(B) Origins. In About MOS. MOS Burger, undated
www.mosburger.com.sg/about_mos.php
("While working at an investment company in Los Angeles in the 1960s, Mr. Sakurada frequented a local hamburger chain called Tommy's. * * * After returning to Japan, Mr. Sakurada started his hamburger shop venture and set up the first MOS Burger shop in Tokyo in 1972")
(ii) Makku is the short form (the first two letters) of McDonald's.

(d) "At Yudetaro outlets, customers can watch the soba noodles being cut and boiled. Unlike at other chains, the firm does not do deliveries as it did in its early days, because it wants its noodles always to be eaten at their very freshest. Its hope is that this way, the company will keep delivering."