Tokyo hosted McDonald’s first restaurant in Japan.
McDonald’s entered Japan in 1971, opening its first Japanese restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza district. The launch brought the American fast-food brand into one of Japan’s most prominent commercial areas and became a major step in the company’s Asian expansion.
The Japanese business was developed through a partnership involving Den Fujita, whose company operated McDonald’s restaurants in Japan. This local partnership helped the chain establish a durable presence while presenting the brand to Japanese consumers.
Osaka, Kyoto, and Yokohama are all major Japanese cities with McDonald’s restaurants, which makes them plausible guesses. They were not the location of the country’s first McDonald’s; that distinction belongs to Tokyo’s Ginza opening.