Mexico, McDonald’s, and Abductions Here and There
There are many Mexico-related sites presented in Japan on the Internet.
You simply type “MEXICO (or MEKISHIKO)” in Japanese into a key word field for search; then you can get, for example, 390,000 results.
One of them is a page providing an article written (in Japanese) by a researcher of Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
The author named the article “Mexican Society Well Observed through McDonald’s.”
(http://www.clb.law.mita.keio.ac.jp/izuokazemi/study/pdf/otuka.pdf)
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The hamburger franchises are something somehow appealing to everybody, but not many would rather think and try to write an academic article titled “Mexican Society Observed through McDonald’s.” In this sense, this article may be unique.
Through her study on McDonald’s shops, the author found that Mexican society is white-men dominated.
The majority, or 63%, of citizens of Mexico City consists of the lower-income group and the lowest-income group. They have no luxury of buying hamburgers at McDonald’s, but they have motives for working at McDonald’s.
Super-rich people, consisting of the highest 3% of Mexican society, are highly concerned with security, thus looking less interested in McDonald’s. To visit a hamburger franchise with armed guards must look bizarre.
But the higher-income group and the middle class seem to love to visit McDonald’s shops. It is because the shop provides a safe playground for their children. McDonald’s franchises are indeed aimed at providing foods and a sense of fellowship for these higher-than-poor classes of white people in Mexico; and they are doing well in business and increasing the number of franchises, according to her article.
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She also mentioned the following fact:
In 2003, Republic of Columbia suffered 4,000 abduction cases, which is the worst in Latin America.
In 2003, the United Mexican States suffered 3,000 abduction cases, which is next to the worst in Latin America.
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There were 29,000 McDonald’s franchises worldwide, making the sales of about US$40 billion, as of the end of 2001.
In Japan, it is said that there are more than 3,700 McDonald’s franchises.
But, in addition to about 40,000 convenience stores, like Seven-Eleven, in Japan, there are a lot of other thriving franchises selling hamburgers as well as other fast foods. If McDonald’s franchises all disappear in Japan, nobody will be troubled.
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Rashes of kidnapping cases have strangely become a factor for success of a hamburger franchise in Mexico.
Some abduction cases of Japanese nationals by North Korea might become a factor for a certain, hard-line political movement in Japan and the U.S., which, however, I still hope for to be settled peacefully.
“FATHER IN HEAVEN DOES NOT WANT TO LOSE ANY OF THESE ONES”