Tokyo Krispy Kreme Field Report

I was in Shinjuku yesterday, and after spotting people walking by carrying Krispy Kreme bags, I decided to check out the Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop that had opened there on Friday. Here’s what it looked like in front of the store at about 1:30PM on Saturday:

The line was pretty large, and it wasn’t just foreigners: I estimated that about 80% of the people in line were Japanese.

While waiting in line, I was able to view the glazed doughnut assembly line through the window.

After 40 minutes, I finally reached the inside of the shop. With a few minutes of waiting to go, staff appeared and started handing free glazed doughnuts to the people waiting in line. Behind the counter there were several foreign Krispy Kreme employees with “trainer” written on their name cards. Most of them seemed to be standing around and watching, but a few were actively directing the huge number of Japanese staff.

After purchasing a few doughnuts, I went outside and noticed that the line was now stretching around the side of the building. I would guess that the wait would probably be well over an hour for the people at the back of the line.

After eating a few doughnuts with my girlfriend, I was able to fully remember the over-rated taste of Krispy Kreme. I had not told her that I didn’t think their doughnuts were not-so-great, hoping not to influence her opinion of the doughnuts. She found them to be different from the doughnuts available at Japanese shops, but not exactly great. She remains a Mister Donut loyalist.

Doughnuts are kind of boring, aren’t they? Ultranationalist loudspeaker trucks are much more interesting, so I’ll close this post with a picture of one that was blaring propaganda in front of an exit to Shinjuku station. Rock on, you wacky right-wingers!