Culture & Lifestyle

While the rats may be happy, Shibuya's own mall rats aren't grinning. (Photo Credit: SXC/Swagger)

Its historic reputation as a spreader of bubonic plague aside, being a rat, as far as it goes, is not a bad thing at all -- in Asia at least. Humans born under the astrological sway of the rat are known, by turns, to be family-minded, magnetic, well-liked, affable and quick-witted. But they also have a tendency to be furtive, self-centered, protective and calculating.

If you happen to be a rat person -- a "toshi-otoko" (male) or "toshi-onna" (female) -- you will be turning 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 or 72 this year.

Rats, or the less intimidating mice, have been getting plenty of admiring squeaks from the mainstream media, most which have centered on the creative ways and means by which businesses are commercializing them.

For instance, a bakery located in Ono City, Hyogo Prefecture began selling "nezumi pan" (rat rolls). The cakes, bearing rodents' whiskered faces, were stuffed with custard cream filling, with strips of chocolate used for the eyes and whiskers. These tempting treats sold for 200 yen each.

Naturally, Tokyo Disney Resort made a big PR push for its premiere performers Mickey and Minnie, who dressed up specially for the occasion in Japanese kimono.

From Jan. 1 to 5, restaurants at the huge theme park in Urayasu City will be serving such traditional new year's foods as oshiruko and osechi ryori.

But the new year's edition of Friday (1/11-18) relates a somewhat less amusing story regarding real rodents that infested yet another familiar US icon: McDonald's.

It seems that a rat made a live appearance at a branch of the McDonald's fast food chain in Tokyo's Shibuya district and was captured on camera foraging at the sales counter before scampering out of sight toward the food-preparation area.

The rat appeared to be approximately 10 centimeters in length and in well-fed, robust condition.

As it turned out, the five black and white photos of "Mackie" -- as we'll call Friday's furry four-legged friend -- were shot seven years ago by Yasuko Funamoto and Takashi Hotta, in an outlet of McDonald's on Shibuya's Center Gai -- a popular promenade where the capital's youth love to come to stroll, shop and dine on junk food.

"There'd been rumors from some time ago that the shop had been infested with rats and I went to take a peep," one of the photographers is quoted as saying. "I was really startled to see one, so I grabbed my camera and shot through the window glass."

At the time, the outlet was closed for the night, and the rat made its foray in an empty shop. Following extensive renovations, that same outlet changed to 24-hour operation and the rats no longer have the run of the shop after closing time, since there is no closing time.

But Friday's story raises the point that, like many other companies in the food business, the burger chain has not been immune to the growing number of scandals over slipshod sanitation methods or serving of ingredients beyond their freshness date. Indeed, such a scandal erupted at the end of November.

"This company has established the best sanitation control in the food service industry," a spokesman from the Corporate Communications Division of McDonald's Holdings insisted. "Whether rats, cockroaches or flies, our sanitation systems are in the top class in the industry."

But the former manager of a Mac outlet says otherwise.

"Rats gave us a big headache at the shop where I worked," he tells Friday. "A lot of oil is used in the cooking, which rats love. You really have to work your butt off to keep the place clean, and it was hard to keep good workers on the payroll. And the pests kept increasing."

To contend with the problem, the parent company organized a "store to store" system of checks, in which the supervisors of five or six store managers would pay inspection calls on their outlets.

Friday (1/11-18)

"But we would be told when to expect the inspection in advance and just before his arrival we would rush to clean things up," says the former manager. "Then it was back to normal. As long as surprise inspections or spot checks aren't performed, you're not going to get any improvements."

"A lot of 'Makku-san' outlets are located in commercial buildings close to rail stations, which is a place that rats love," a professional pest exterminator tells Friday. "They've got multiple entries and exits, the buildings are centrally heated and cooled, and there's always plenty of food around.

"What's more, if the building operator doesn't take prompt action, the rats multiply like crazy. When that happens, you're stuck with them." (By Masuo Kamiyama, contributing writer)