Tsukimi Burgers in Japan for the Fall Moon Viewing Season and Moon Rabbit Mina Anime

Fall is when the leaves turn brilliant red and yellow, tantalizing aroma of roasting sweet potatoes fills the air, Starbucks puts out their Pumpkin Spice Latte, moon-viewing burgers hit the fast food restaurants in Japan, and when the Mid-Autumn Harvest/Moon Festivals take place.  I've never managed to visit Japan in the early to mid-autumn period.  I think the earliest I was there was a few days before Halloween. This means I usually miss out on all of the moon-viewing / harvest festival type activities and special events.  Every year, when the fall rolls around, there are seasonal specialties on restaurant menus and it is an event for the fast food chains too.

Tsukimi burgers for KFC - top, McDonald's - middle, Mos Burger -  bottom

Here is a round up of some of the special burgers, food, and beverages that are out in the fall of 2022 for tsukimi, moon viewing for the harvest moon.  The fall specials often incorporate traditional foods such as sweet potato and chestnut.  Egg takes centre stage for many of the sandwiches as a full moon can be represented by a circular fried egg.  I'm just covering the specials for some of the fast food chains and I would certainly want to try a sandwich from each of the chains and then get some dessert too!

McDonald's

1. New Sukiyaki Tsukimi Burger.  Has a circular fried egg, sweet and savoury sukiyaki sauce, beef patty, cheese, and bacon between the buns.

2. Regular Tsukimi Burger.  Has a circular fried egg, beef patty, bacon, and a creamy tomato based sauce between the buns.

3. Cheese Tsukimi Burger. Has a slice of cheese, circular fried egg, beef patty, bacon, and a creamy tomato based sauce between the buns.

4. Tsukimi Muffin.  The McMuffin breakfast version of the special has a circular fried egg, sausage patty, bacon, and a creamy tomato based sauce between the sliced English muffin.

5. Tsukimi Pie.  This sounds like a must try.  A fried pie filled with red bean paste and soft mochi.  Mochi alludes to the rabbit pounding the rice on the moon - See Moon Rabbit Meena later in the post. 

6. Tsukimi McShake.  This milkshake is flavoured by roasted sweet potato thtat is often found in fall treats and candies.

7. Tsukimi McFlurry.  This Mont Blanc (chestnut) flavoured McFlurry looks like a tasty, nutty, winner.  There are even some chestnut flavoured bits of sponge cake to top it off.

KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)

The popular fried chicken chain has four types of tsukimi burgers for the season in katsu (Japansese style, breaded, chicken fillets) or as their regular fried fillet.  These would be super flavourful too.

1. Tsukimi Chicken Fillet Sandwich. Soft-fried egg (runny yolk), a big fillet of fried chicken, lettuce, and thick soy sauce between two buns.

2. Cheese Tsukimi Chicken Fillet Sandwich.  Soft-fried egg, a big fillet of fried chicken, lettuce, and thick soy sauce between two buns.

4. Tsukimi Chicken Katsu Sandwich.  Soft-fried egg, a breaded, katsu-style piece of fried chicken, shreded cabbage, and thick soy sauce between two buns.

3. Cheese Tsukimi Chicken Katsu Sandwich. Soft-fried egg, cheese, a breaded, katsu-style piece of fried chicken, shredded cabbage, and thick soy sauce between two buns.

Mos Burger

Homegrown Mos Burger and their tasty local take on burgers, fries, and more also has some moon watching specials. They have a Tsukimi Sausage Focaccia Sailor Moon Collaboration.  This sandwich is an egg and sausage combination on a focaccia bun.  The moon reference comes from the crescent moon shape of the curled sausage that looks like the crescent moon from Sailor Moon.  The egg is lightly poached so it is nice and runny (maybe messy to eat too) and there is big, juicy, smoked sausage.  This isn't a burger, but it is something a little different that also has a sweet BBQ sauce, diced eggplant, mushrooms, and shredded cabbage to round things out.

Starbucks Japan

Starbucks Japan always has seasonal menus that are more extensive than what we get here in North America.  They have sakura season in the spring, summer fruit specials, and even fall menus with good old pumpkin spice.  However, the fall menu extends beyond that with the pumpkin spice latte and a roasted sweet potato frappuccino.  The frappuccio uses a sweet potato and caramel syrup that is simulates having a rich sweet potato creme brulee. 

Mister Donut

There are seasonal donuts of course.  Mister Donut has five fall donuts to try that are all variations with a roasted sweet potato flavour.  You can get purple glazed, sweet potato cream, and even just plain donuts dusted with a sweet potato powder in these offerings.

That pretty much ends the fall tsukimi food overview, but that still leaves room for the mythical Rabbit on the Moon that can be seen pounding mochi in a mortar.

Moon Rabbit Mina and Pounding Mochi

Moon viewing for people in Japan involves seeing a rabbit pounding rice into mochi on the moon. Mochi is a gummy rice cake made from glutinous rice.  The moon rabbit is a fixture in far eastern mythology and it is originally a Chinese myth.

Moon Rabbit Mina Figure

When I was writing this fall food post I was reminded about an old anime / meme about Moon Rabbit Meena.  I even have some figurines with her.  There are also many video game and anime references that feature the old lunar bunny too. 

Moon Rabbit Mina (Getsumento Heiki Mina) is a fictitious anime in the mini-series Densha Otoko (Train Man).  It then became a real 11 episode anime in 2007 that was made by Gonzo.  Mina is a Rabbit Warrior whose powers pass from mother to daughter. The Minas are a worldwide force of warriors whose transformed form is integrated with advanced machine weaponry is based on a different type of food for each of them.  The machinery comes in pairs of fruit/veggie forms and attaches as two tails to the girls.  There are of course good Minas and fallen Minas.

Three of the Minas gashapon figures (carrot, blueberry, and tomato)

Mina Tsukuda, the main character, transforms into Mīna Tsukishiro,  Her advanced machines take the form of carrots that allow her to fly when used as jet packs, can fire missiles, and she can use them as a hammer weapon.  Mina hates carrot and grimaces when she uses them to transform into her warrior form.  I think this show would be pretty bizarre to see as I have never seen the show, but some of the character designs are cute.

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