Monster Burger!

Ask any Japanese person, “What is a famous food in America?” and I bet 4 out of 5 times you’ll get, “hamburger” as the answer. There is this idea in Japan that Americans eat massive burgers as a part of our national diet. I guess there is some truth to this…but I must say that the biggest burger I’ve ever eaten was in Japan.

Behold the Yufuin Burger!

Yufuin is a cute little mountain town in Oita-ken that has grown considerably as a popular tourist destination in recent years. The main street is filled with folks on the weekends and like all towns/cities in Japan, Yufuin has its own famous food items that MUST be eaten when you visit. Up until recently, I think the most popular confectionary was the roll cake, but as times move forward, new items are popping up. The massive Yufuin burger is one of these and let me tell you, it is delicious.

I went to Yufuin with two of my students, Chi and Miyo, on a quest to eat the Yufuin burger. We waded through the crowds of people and found the burger joint where the man working there didn’t want to give us 3 of the big size burgers. “Women can’t eat a whole one!” he said, “The guy, sure, but maybe you ladies should get the smaller sized one.”

In the end, we got two special big ones and one medium (which was still large). We complimented the meal with bottles of coke (just like an American family would) and ate ourselves silly. Hooray!