How chocolate fries and Pikachu turned around McDonald's Japan

For the first time since 2012, it's opening more stores in Japan than it's closing

McDonald’s Japan took a series of hits starting in 2014 that threatened to crack its Golden Arches: a supplier was selling expired chicken, a human tooth was found in french fries and a child was injured by a plastic shard inside a sundae.

Sales plummeted to their lowest since the company went public in 2001, and the chain closed hundreds of restaurants. McDonald’s Corp in the US said it was considering selling its 49.9 per cent stake in the Japanese company as losses piled up.

“I remember thinking at that time: ‘McDonald’s is over,”’ said Ichiro Fujita, a Torrance, California-based consultant who