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Domino’s Pizza – Still Ridiculously Expensive in Japan

A TV news report discusses a special deal being offered by Domino’s Pizza Japan:

The offer is only available to customers who use Domino’s Japan’s English language homepage to order their pizzas online. Apparently if you order one “Brooklyn Pizza,” you will get another one for free. The pizza costs 2,500 yen. English-speaking customers from the United States sure must be thrilled to pay the equivalent of $30 for two “L” sized pizzas that probably wouldn’t even pass for mediums in the United States (and only as a limited time offer!).

My most recent experience with Domino’s Japan: Website said it would take 30 to 40 minutes to get my pizza. It took over an hour, and the pizza and chicken were cold by the time they got here. I was given a measley “500-yen off” coupon to make up for their extreme lateness.

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45 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 17, 2011 at 6:39 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

leitmotiv

If you are living in Japan and earn a living in JPY, it should not really seem like US$30.

Also, the “higher” price [than the US] may reflect the fact that the Japan dominoes workers are insured and receive something like a living wage compared to their dominoes counterparts in the real Brooklyn – who have been known to moonlight as drug couriers on their pizza rounds to make ends meet.

Tony D

I don’t buy that for a second. Dominos workers in Australia are insured and earn far more than their American counterparts, but the pizzas cost substantially less than Japan (AUS$8 for a large pizza pickup). Even after taking in fluctuating exchange rates it’s clear that pizza are obscenely overpriced in Japan.

Fat Tony

Have you noticed that there are fewer Koalas in Australia since Dominos set up shop there.

RMilner

I’ve always been happy with the quality and delivery speed of Domino’s in Japan, but they are very expensive compared to the UK version.

Sandy

But… they are already expensive in the UK! You’re looking at up to £16 for a large.

RMilner

I used to order from the US, where they are cheaper, but they always arrived cold.

fish taco

I’ve actually had really good experiences with Dominoes here in Japan. They usually deliver in less than 30 minutes and it is cheaper than most other places. The only problem I ever had was when the driver did not have change for ¥10,000. He had to to go and get money to make change. He actually left the pizzas and came back to collect his payment after he had change. The delivery guy was really apologetic and gave me a fistful of ¥500 off coupons. In spite of that if I were in the states I would never waste my money on Dominoes when there is so much better pizza available. But in Japan I think that “Brooklyn” deal is about the closest thing I’ve found to a NY style pizza. It’s far from a great pizza but it doesn’t have any mayo or corn on it.

jpp

In the states, drivers are not supposed to carry more than $20 in change for safety reasons.

Although japan is lot safer, expecting them to carry a days worth of wages in change seems just a bit unreasonable.

fish taco

Well I think the change due was between ¥5000-¥6000 (hopefully he makes more than that in a day) but all we had to pay with was a ¥10,000 note. Was just one of those times where I didn’t look at what I had until the driver was already at the door. True it’s unreasonable of me to expect them to carry so much cash. But the fact that he was so apologetic just goes to show how good their service is here.

Lord Metroid

Not only Domino Pizza, any pizza and diery products are ridiculusly expensive!
flowby

I think pizza gained recognition as an “exotic” food in the latter bubble days, and people were willing to fork out the necessary sums to indulge.

Strangely as the economy took a turn and people became more discerning in their purchases, the pizza world never followed suit.

It seems ingrained now that pizzas are pricey and that’s only understandable because they’re “so different”.

In my home country pizzas are viewed as cheap & easy meals and the workers do get paid well – about the same as a bank officer here.
Matt

I also had a terrible experience with Domino’s Japan’s website. They were over an hour late even though we’d ordered a day in advance. Eventually they only turned up because we called to ask what was going on. When they finally arrived one of the pizzas was the wrong one. They eventaully gave me a 1000 yen discount coupon to compensate when the correct pizza finally arrived 2 hours after we were supposed to get it.

I was so disappointed I don’t plan on ever using them again, so the discount is somewhat pointless.
Mircalla

I recommend making your own pizza. My family and I used to order from Pizza La or Pizza Hut but because it is so expensive, we couldn’t order pizza often. It is really easier and much cheaper to make your own pizza. In the time it takes to order a pizza and have it delivered you can have a home-made pizza that tastes better and is affordable.

http://www.easypizzacrusts.com/

My son likes to put tuna fish, corn and mayo on his. You can adjust the thickness of the dough too for either deep dish or thin crust. The Japanese mothers that I have shared the above link with now make pizzas at home instead of ordering.

Karisu

Your son has issues.

Dave

Perhaps you are the one with issues…There was no need for such a comment.

yojimbo

How did you bake it? In your little microwave/oven? If so, it would clearly limit the size of the pizza and you’d have to make basically one per person. That’s a lot of time spent making pizza.

Fat Tony

I used to make mine in a little toaster oven. they cost about the same as one Domino’s Pizza. Moreover, it only takes 15-20 minutes to cook a pizza, so you make two or three and cook while eating.

Kevin not kevin

Domino’s Pizza is by far the cheapest pizza place in Japan. Once you order one of their pizzas, you’ll consistently get 15% off coupons with every purchase after that. They also have a 5% off coupon if you order the pizzas online.

Domino’s is hardly the best pizza you can order in terms of quality, but Pizza La NEVER gets below 3000 yen if you want a pizza that barely passes as medium-sized, and Pizza-Hut is just garbage.

I highly suggest using Domino’s website because you’ll always have coupons ready for another purchase.
dw

My new house has an oven. I recently decided to figure out how to make pizza. One domino’s size pizza costs about 350円 to make using supermarket ingredients. If one used wholesale goods the cost would probably be around 100円. Dominos, PizzzaLa, and Pizza hut are stupidly over priced.
Jordan

What?! Dude, Domino’s in Japan has some of the best deals out there. Way better deals than Pizza Hut or the other J-pizza companies.

25 bucks for the two massive Brooklyn style pizzas is about the same price in the States.

Karisu

Your idea of the word “massive” needs to be readjusted.

T-rock

If you have a decent salary you should be able to afford these
prices problem free instead of scoffing or grouching about it.
Pizza Hut in U.S for a large supreme is 18 dollars!
Food prices are going up even higher worldwide better get used to it!

Make that money man!
Chino

Everything is expensive in Japan! What’s new?

Lord Metroid

Actually food is quite cheap in Japan compared to the States and Europe, about half the price exception being Western foods and diery products.

tora

I beg to differ…. beef is cheaper in Japan? think not… potatoes are cheaper…think not….fruit is cheaper in Japan?…think not… unless your growing your own I believe most all the foods in Japan are imported in some form or another raising their prices…

Kimchikid

Well, chicken breast strips seem to be cheaper.

JakeL168

Seriously? The domino pizza in my country has been the cheapest, most tastiest pizza shop among the others… And things seems to be the other way around in Japan… lol
flowby

Chino – everything is NOT expensive in Japan.

My local Okonomiyaki shop could make 3~4 Okon’s that’d murder a Dominos pizza for taste @ the same price.

Tons of excellent casual eating can be had for a sniff of ￥3000 – where I live anyway.

Pizzas should be cheap – no two ways about it.

As I iterated before – they’re holding onto some bs “piza mystique” and ripping the customer.
T-rock

You think Pizza is just expensive in only Japan, common sense says try New York
City, even Los Angeles…they charge you a higher price there
as well so what`s your point?
The choice between a Papa Johns or a going to fancy Italian
Restaurant to have a pizza, obviously the price will differ.
Just common sense

dw

Last I checked pizza in NYC was 1 buck a slice and 8 for a 21 inch pie. If you are paying more than 10 bucks a pie you are in a tourist trap.

randomcommenter

I just did a price comparison with Dominos.com (America) and Dominos.jp (Japan). The Large size pizza is the exact same size (well, technically speaking, the L size Japanese pizza is 36cm, and the L size US pizza is 14 inches = 35.5cm, so the Japanese pizza is 5mm bigger, but I think we can call that “margin of error”). The price of an L size Brooklyn pizza at Dominos.us is $11. Two pizzas are thus $22, plus $2 for delivery, and $3 tip comes to $27, which is 2,200 yen.

So, no, the normal price is of course ridiculous, and even this limited-time low price isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s within the ballpark, at least, and the pizzas are far from being American medium size pizzas.
T-rock

If you are making very decent money you would not complain that`s for sure!
Hypersensitive to prices means you are not rich
That`s a pity
DougW

Domino’s… yuck
The only place I get pizza in japan is in Akihabara. Little place called Miami Garden.

RMilner

Now that is proper Italian!

Kimchikid

Hmm. The Miami Garden here in Karuizawa is def NOT proper Italian. Will have to check out the one in Akihabara soon.

dokool

Dominos basically gives you an automatic 20% off if you use the iPhone app, and that’s cool because you can play the silly timewaster games and get free sides.

Pizza Hut Japan is more expensive on average, doesn’t give out coupons (or forces you to only use them when you call in an order rather than use their website), and make a minimum 1500y order before they’ll deliver. Dominos’ minimum order is theoretically 1000y but generally over 900y and the order goes through…

However recently I got Pizza Hut’s mailing list and it was an announcement about the mailing list closing and their online system being completely revamped. So as someone who occasionally indulges in a bit of faux-American comfort food, I look forward to the upcoming pizza wars.
T-rock

Honestly guys here`s an example of a high end Italian restaurant in Dallas, Texas that sells pizza for the average price of about $18. Too much,
apparently not for those who can afford it!
There are plenty of people out there who are wealthy enough to afford this and
you do not see those people complaining or grouching whatsoever do you?
You have the money to burn, why you care then LOL!?
T-rock

The Italian restaurant called Neopizzeria example

http://www.neopizzeria.com/menu

Make that money people and live large!
Wes

Always less than 20 mins here and takes credit cards too…

I wish there was a Taco Bell delivery in Japan, Dominos would be out of business.

fish taco

Taco Bell delivery? There isn’t even a Taco Bell in Japan dammit.

T-rock

Dallas based Pizza Hut isn`t cheap either!
T-rock

And food prices are going to go up!
Can`t be a whiner anymore!
T-rock

And lastly you get what you pay for!
Garcia Ishrael

Try the pizza at Costco. $1500 yen for a whole 18″ I think.

Garcia Ishrael

I mean in yen. I don’t have a Japanese keyboard. Sorry.

Domino’s Pizza – Still Ridiculously Expensive in Japan

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