America Reclaims Domino's Pizza In Japan

[Mulboyne]

[floatr][/floatr]Boston Globe: Bain Capital to buy Domino's franchisee in Japan
Bain Capital, a Boston investment firm that has made investments in such restaurant chains as Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King, said that it has agreed to buy the master franchisee of Domino's Pizza in Japan. The franchises is Higa Industries Co. Ltd., which currently operates 179 franchised Domino's Pizza stores in Japan. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Bain Capital noted that it has a history with Domino's; in 1998, Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in Domino's. In 2004, Domino's became a public company, and Bain Capital retains "a significant minority stake" in the company, its press release said.

[gkanai]

Looks like Bain Cap did an LBO of BK in 2002 with money from GS and TPG.

I wonder if that went well for them. BK is not really here nor there these days. (Non-entity in Japan of course.)

[Doctor Stop]

Higa gave up on Quizno's a year or so ago.

[TennoChinko]

I believe the Higa family are American, but if you wanted to point out Real Honest to Goodness White Americans, the thread title is probably correct.

[Mulboyne]

I believe the Higa family are American, but if you wanted to point out Real Honest to Goodness White Americans, the thread title is probably correct.

That's true but Higa Industries was incorporated in Japan, not set up as a unit of a US company.

[eddie]

dominos pizza here isn't really all that bad. i never ate it in the states but i've got to believe it would make me shit burnt hair...

[Kumaji]

As long as they don't charge 30$ for a medium sized pizza....

[IkemenTommy]

Does that mean they will finally get rid of mayonnaise, corn, and shrimp toppings?

[Marked Trail]

That's true but Higa Industries was incorporated in Japan, not set up as a unit of a US company.

Just google Higa Industries and you find that higaind.jp is the base Internet address. The engrish page for Higa Industries shows it is a Japanese company through and through.

[matsuki]

As long as they don't charge 30$ for a medium sized pizza....

When you have a country of people paying $5 for a tomato, it's not hard to get $30 for a tiny pizza.

[IparryU]

When you have a country of people paying $5 for a tomato, it's not hard to get $30 for a tiny pizza.

no shit... damn stupid if you ask me.

[AML]

The only pizza I eat in Japan now is either home made or from one of the American bases where for $5 you get a pizza bigger than anything the Jps offer.

[Coligny]

When you have a country of people paying $5 for a tomato, it's not hard to get $30 for a tiny pizza.

You should try farmer markets... Got me trunk full of vegetabuls yesterday for less than 700 yens... Big cabbages are 79 yens each these days.

[FG Lurker]

You should try farmer markets... Got me trunk full of vegetabuls yesterday for less than 700 yens... Big cabbages are 79 yens each these days.

Yeah, every time I am down in Okayama I load up on fruits and veggies. Fresh, not imported from China, and the prices are pretty reasonable. Seafood too - I get a large bucket of fresh oysters for 2000yen. I guess it's about a 10 liter bucket size? There are so many oysters that we always have to give about half of them away.

[matsuki]

Yeah, been putting off getting a personal car for awhile though. Big legal battle with a Chinese manufacturer in the U.S. As soon as I recover $$ from that, I'll get some decent wheels and hit up places like that.

[FG Lurker]

Yeah, been putting off getting a personal car for awhile though. Big legal battle with a Chinese manufacturer in the U.S. As soon as I recover $$ from that, I'll get some decent wheels and hit up places like that.

I would say the two biggest life-changing things I have done while in Japan are learn Japanese and buy a car. Though on the surface they don't really seem like similar sorts of things at all I think the impact they have on your life is in some ways similar: Both make it incalculably easier to do many things.

Speaking Japanese for example lets you get shit done in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the frustration (not always of course, but often.) You also don't have to rely on others anywhere near as much -- a lot more independence.

Having a car turns many all-day (or half-day) exhausting tasks into something that takes an hour and is far less exhausting -- or even enjoyable. One example off the top of my head would be going to a nearby denkiya-san or home center. With car: hop in, drive directly there, park and walk inside to do your shopping. Load goods into car and drive home. During the drive you can enjoy some music in relative quiet or use a headset to call a friend. Without car: Walk to station, get on train, travel to destination (probably changing trains once or twice), then walk the often considerable distance to the shop. If you're lucky the weather is nice but if not it's baking hot or pissing rain. Or both. Do your shopping, then lug whatever you bought back to the train station and go through the rest in reverse. God help you if you needed to buy something bulky, heavy, or just a lot of stuff at one time.

Another thing I love about having a car is that I can easily go places that are nearly impossible (or are impossible!) to get to on public transport. Heading to the beach in the summer is a good example. Without a car you are limited to going to one of a few super-crowded beaches near a train station. I drive onto Awaji Island and go to one of many beaches that (while not empty) are often pretty quiet. The difference in experience is incredible.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I would say the two biggest life-changing things I have done while in Japan are learn Japanese and buy a car. Though on the surface they don't really seem like similar sorts of things at all I think the impact they have on your life is in some ways similar: Both make it incalculably easier to do many things.

Speaking Japanese for example lets you get shit done in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the frustration (not always of course, but often.) You also don't have to rely on others anywhere near as much -- a lot more independence.

Having a car turns many all-day (or half-day) exhausting tasks into something that takes an hour and is far less exhausting -- or even enjoyable. One example off the top of my head would be going to a nearby denkiya-san or home center. With car: hop in, drive directly there, park and walk inside to do your shopping. Load goods into car and drive home. During the drive you can enjoy some music in relative quiet or use a headset to call a friend. Without car: Walk to station, get on train, travel to destination (probably changing trains once or twice), then walk the often considerable distance to the shop. If you're lucky the weather is nice but if not it's baking hot or pissing rain. Or both. Do your shopping, then lug whatever you bought back to the train station and go through the rest in reverse. God help you if you needed to buy something bulky, heavy, or just a lot of stuff at one time.

Another thing I love about having a car is that I can easily go places that are nearly impossible (or are impossible!) to get to on public transport. Heading to the beach in the summer is a good example. Without a car you are limited to going to one of a few super-crowded beaches near a train station. I drive onto Awaji Island and go to one of many beaches that (while not empty) are often pretty quiet. The difference in experience is incredible.

If you're single and live in central Tokyo like me, there really isn't much advantage to having a car. I never need to buy in bulk at Costco, the trains are genreally faster and more convenient than driving for shopping and getting things delivered is usually free or very low cost. If I do want to take off to the boonies, renting car is pretty easy too. Once you have a family it seems to become more worthwhile though.

[FG Lurker]

If you're single and live in central Tokyo like me, there really isn't much advantage to having a car. I never need to buy in bulk at Costco, the trains are genreally faster and more convenient than driving for shopping and getting things delivered is usually free or very low cost. If I do want to take off to the boonies, renting car is pretty easy too. Once you have a family it seems to become more worthwhile though.

When I was single I went nearly everywhere by bike. Even after I was married actually, if I was going out on my own it was by bike. I clocked over 200km in an average week. I'd use trains if I had to go shopping for something too big to fit in a backpack but otherwise I was on the bike.

I bought my first car here during the time I was at my last job. I actually drove to work for years, that beats the hell out of morning trains any time. Pissed off some coworkers though as I got free parking in the underground garage.

Back on topic... Having a car lets me get way more done in a day when I need to be out and about. In my previous example I talked about going to one shop to buy something. Everything gets multiplied when you want to go to 3 or 4 or 5 places in one day. There are some businesses I need to visit fairly regularly for work (not Greiji's sort of businesses, unfortunately), and they are located at various different points throughout the city. I can easily and reasonably effortlessly visit all of them in less than one day by car, half a day if I don't need to do much at each place. By train though it takes forever due to trains not being direct, having to change trains, and of course all the walking to & from the station to their offices. Besides the time issue there is the amount of energy you exert going places by train vs going by car.

It's probably difficult to understand if you've never had a car here (or of course if you really don't need to move around much) but for me it was a massive improvement in the quality of my life in Japan.

[Yokohammer]

I clocked over 200km in an average week.

That's more than I do in an average week in my car!
I average around 500 ~ 600 km per month, unless I do a long-distance haul to somewhere. But there's a good reason for the minimal mileage: I work at home.

Never drove when I was in Tokyo or Yokohama, and never missed it, but up here it's freakin' great! (er ... and kind of essential). No traffic jams (to speak of), and delightful scenery to enjoy. Even the the "big city" of Sendai is easy to drive around.

In do see SJ's point though. Considering the cost of parking in Tokyo, tolls, and the general overhead associated with car ownership, it's actually cheaper to take a cab everywhere you go. That all changes drastically when you get out into the boonies.

[dimwit]

When I was single I went nearly everywhere by bike. Even after I was married actually, if I was going out on my own it was by bike. I clocked over 200km in an average week. I'd use trains if I had to go shopping for something too big to fit in a backpack but otherwise I was on the bike.

I bought my first car here during the time I was at my last job. I actually drove to work for years, that beats the hell out of morning trains any time. Pissed off some coworkers though as I got free parking in the underground garage.

Back on topic... Having a car lets me get way more done in a day when I need to be out and about. In my previous example I talked about going to one shop to buy something. Everything gets multiplied when you want to go to 3 or 4 or 5 places in one day. There are some businesses I need to visit fairly regularly for work (not Greiji's sort of businesses, unfortunately), and they are located at various different points throughout the city. I can easily and reasonably effortlessly visit all of them in less than one day by car, half a day if I don't need to do much at each place. By train though it takes forever due to trains not being direct, having to change trains, and of course all the walking to & from the station to their offices. Besides the time issue there is the amount of energy you exert going places by train vs going by car.

It's probably difficult to understand if you've never had a car here (or of course if you really don't need to move around much) but for me it was a massive improvement in the quality of my life in Japan.

I've never even bothered to get my Japanese license (but I'm pretty sure my wife would love me to get it). Matsuyama is surprisingly compact city so that I can easily get around by bicycle to pretty much anywhere I want to go.

[Samurai_Jerk]

In do see SJ's point though. Considering the cost of parking in Tokyo, tolls, and the general overhead associated with car ownership, it's actually cheaper to take a cab everywhere you go. That all changes drastically when you get out into the boonies.

Exactly. But like I said, that only applies if you live in central Tokyo and are single. I guess I should add and don't often have to buy multiple large bulky objects like FGL seems to have to. I know several people who've tried owning cars in Tokyo and gave up and sold eventually them because it was too expensive and in the end they didn't use then often enough to justify owning one. All that being said, if money weren't an object, I'd probably own a car (Of course, I'd almost never use it since going out of the house usually ends with me being drunk ).

FGL, do you mean bicycle or motorbike? I've just started cycling to work recently and it's so much better than taking the train and only takes me about 5 minutes longer. We'll see how I feel once summer rolls around though. No showers at the office .

[matsuki]

When I was single I went nearly everywhere by bike. Even after I was married actually, if I was going out on my own it was by bike. I clocked over 200km in an average week. I'd use trains if I had to go shopping for something too big to fit in a backpack but otherwise I was on the bike.

I bought my first car here during the time I was at my last job. I actually drove to work for years, that beats the hell out of morning trains any time. Pissed off some coworkers though as I got free parking in the underground garage.

Back on topic... Having a car lets me get way more done in a day when I need to be out and about. In my previous example I talked about going to one shop to buy something. Everything gets multiplied when you want to go to 3 or 4 or 5 places in one day. There are some businesses I need to visit fairly regularly for work (not Greiji's sort of businesses, unfortunately), and they are located at various different points throughout the city. I can easily and reasonably effortlessly visit all of them in less than one day by car, half a day if I don't need to do much at each place. By train though it takes forever due to trains not being direct, having to change trains, and of course all the walking to & from the station to their offices. Besides the time issue there is the amount of energy you exert going places by train vs going by car.

It's probably difficult to understand if you've never had a car here (or of course if you really don't need to move around much) but for me it was a massive improvement in the quality of my life in Japan.

I'm kinda in between you and SJ. You both make good points. I've had my Jappy license for about 2 years now (almost time to renew!) and have use of the company car/vacation home in Tochigi so believe me when I say I understand the upsides...but my office is about 25 mins away from my apartment so it's a PITA to use the car for smaller trips like shopping.

[FG Lurker]

FGL, do you mean bicycle or motorbike? I've just started cycling to work recently and it's so much better than taking the train and only takes me about 5 minutes longer. We'll see how I feel once summer rolls around though. No showers at the office .

Definitely bicycle. The only downside to having a car (besides the cost of course) is that I no longer get anywhere near the exercise that I used to.

[Yokohammer]

The only downside to having a car (besides the cost of course) is that I no longer get anywhere near the exercise that I used to.

I hear ya!
I never go anywhere near exercise either.