Supersize Us

Some friends of ours went to Costco last week.  They offered to get us a few things.  Yea!!

The first thing on our list: peanut butter!  Why?  Because the peanut butter in Japan is very expensive and comes in very small jars.

On the left, Skippy, 1810 grams for 1100 yen. This is the Japanese large.  The normal one isn't even                                                                                                        
half this size.  On the right, we have Skippy, 462 grams for 700 yen.
                                                                               
Four times the quantity for less than twice as much!

In the US, when you buy a drink at a restaurant, you get a full cup--so full you have to put a lid on or carry it carefully to not spill.  In Japan when you buy a drink, it comes to you about 3/4 full.

Japan has small, medium and large.
The US doesn't have the Japanese small.  Their small is Japan's medium.  Their medium is Japan's large.  Their large is way bigger than anything you can get in Japan.  And then there is "SUPERSIZE."

Here are McDonalds sizes for Japan and the US:

Not only that, but if you don't want ice, you still get a full cup of pop in the US.  We have learned by sad experience that if you ask for "no ice" in your cup, you get 1/3 cup of drink, and not one drop more.  They know exactly how much pop you would get with ice, and that's that.

At our English Conversation class last week, the topic was food.  We told them about the first time Lee ordered a drink with no ice.  We were shocked.  But we probably weren't as shocked as a Japanese native walking into a US movie theater and watching people get a bucket of popcorn.  They were blown away when we talked about 42 oz. drinks.

In the US, we really know how to Supersize it!

PS:  In 1955, McDonalds large soda was 7 ounces.  It was 21 ounces in 1980 and 32 ounces in 1990.