I gotcher Log right here

At the top of Kyoto Station is a collection of seven different ramen restaurants, all dealing in different regional variants of the dish. Also present are a few shops selling takoyaki and okonomiyaki and the like. And then, this:


Log Kit is a charming hamburger little place that brands itself all American-style — the cooks have to wear cowboy hats, and fries are served in American-sized paper cones decorated with the Stars & Stripes. They’ve even got the kitsch factor down: just look at that big plastic burger, and the board of photos of people who could cram their most ultra-massive burger down their gullet in a single sitting.

But man, that name. That name. Definitely one of those instances where an innocently nonsensical English name carries horrible, unpleasant undertones for people more versed in the language’s colloquialisms.

7 thoughts on “I gotcher Log right here”

  1. I ate a McDonald’s cheeseburger over the weekend and noticed that they now printed the ingredients and nutrition information right on the wrapper, but in a similar color so that it doesn’t stand out too much. I don’t mind poising my body once in a while and I appreciate that McDonald’s doesn’t get all high-contrast telling me about it. I want to say that I appreciate Log Kit’s “truth in advertising” but I’ve decided ignorance is bliss.

  3. holy carp, suggestive. That restaurant has got to be an extremely subtle social criticism of America. With that name and presentation, they’re shooting for the Brokeback steers and queers demographic… or mocking it.

  4. I didn’t have a Log, but I think one of my traveling companions did. I’ll ask her.

  5. I once at at a restaurant in upstate New York called The Log Jam. It was clearly inspired by the logging industry but the innuendo was enough to cause my then 14 year old self to giggle uncontrollably through out the meal. At least this place has the excuse of the language barrier.

  6. I ate at that exact Log Kit. I think I was too entranced by the ridiculously large burger to notice the name at the time. One of the few times that we skipped the ramen and went for something silly and western. The burger is pretty big, you get sick of it while you are eating it. We couldn’t read japanese, so we ended up with taro french fries – they were great!

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