BODY: Five years of development. One boneless chicken thigh. And, at the launch event, a man who is not Hiroshi Abe doing an extremely good impression of Hiroshi Abe.
McDonald's Japan adds the Zakuzaku Juicy Mac (ザクザクジューシーマック) to its permanent menu on October 21, and the pitch is unusually specific for a chain that usually sells on nostalgia and seasonal urgency. Instead of the reconstituted patties that carry most fast-food chicken in Japan, this one uses momo ichimai-niku — a single whole cut of thigh meat — wrapped in what the company calls a 波状衣, a deliberately ridged "wave coating" engineered to hold its crunch against the juices coming out of the meat. That tension between crisp and wet is the entire reason the R&D took half a decade.
The lineup arrives three deep: the standard version from ¥460, a Spicy variant with a garlic-forward chili sauce at ¥470, and a Teriyaki Chicken Juicy Mac at the same price. A thigh-chicken side piece joins the menu, and late-night Night Mac diners get doubled-up versions of all three. Riding alongside: Shaka Shaka Potatoes in an "addictive black pepper" seasoning, plus McFizz and McFloat whole-squeezed lemonade.
The press event leaned comedic. Idol Maika Sasaki of =LOVE and veteran comedian Tomonori Jinnai handled tasting duties. Hiroshi Abe, fronting the campaign, couldn't attend in person and sent a video message — so La Parfait's Takuya Tsuru stepped in as Abe, delivering food commentary in character with uncanny fidelity. GAME Watch's reviewer came away most impressed by the Spicy build, calling the garlic-savory heat a genuine match for thigh meat rather than a mask for it.
The insider take
Chicken is where McDonald's Japan is most exposed. KFC owns the occasion-based market, and konbini hot cases — Famichiki, Nanachiki, L-Chiki — have spent fifteen years teaching the country that excellent fried chicken costs ¥200 and is sixty seconds from any train station. A whole-thigh burger at ¥460 is McDonald's arguing it can beat the konbini on substance, not just price, and parking it on the regular menu rather than the usual limited-time slot is a real commitment of grill space. The Abe-impersonator bit is pure Japanese ad logic: when your A-list face can't show, you don't cancel — you book the monomane guy, and the gap becomes the story.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).