Dom Dom Hamburger
Japan’s first hamburger chain, born when a supermarket and McDonald’s could not agree on one percent.
About Dom Dom Hamburger
Dom Dom exists because of a quarrel over one percent. The supermarket giant Daiei planned a joint venture with McDonald’s to bring hamburgers to Japan, but McDonald’s wanted a 50–50 split and Daiei’s founder, Isao Nakauchi, insisted on 51 percent and control. The deal collapsed, so Daiei built its own chain. In February 1970 it opened a burger shop outside its store in Machida, Tokyo, more than a year before McDonald’s opened in Ginza, which makes Dom Dom Japan’s first hamburger chain. The name comes from “dondon”, from the Daiei motto of selling good things “ever more cheaply”; DONDON was already trademarked, so it became DOMDOM. The mascot is an elephant called Domzō-kun.
Living inside Daiei stores, the chain grew to 355 restaurants by 1997 and then shrank with its parent, closing most branches when Daiei pulled out of whole regions. In 2017 it was sold to Rembrandt Holdings, and in 2018 Shinobu Fujisaki, who had run an izakaya in Shimbashi, became president. Under her the chain leaned into its unusual, very Japanese menu, opened in Asakusa’s Hanayashiki amusement park and, in 2025, in Taipei. In January 2026 a management buyout made it independent again.
Today there are fewer than thirty restaurants, mostly in food courts, with the oldest surviving branch, in Kainan, Wakayama, dating from 1978. The menu mixes plain burgers with things you will not find elsewhere: an okonomiyaki burger, a burger of thick home-made rolled omelette, and a whole fried soft-shell crab in a bun. Calories and allergens are published for every item.
About thirty restaurants, mostly in shopping-centre food courts around Tokyo, Chiba, Osaka and Okayama, plus one in Taipei.
Burger menu
Signature burgers first. Only burgers and sandwiches, no sides.If you like Dom Dom Hamburger
Chains whose signature burgers are built the same way.- First Kitchen (Japan, since 1977). A Tokyo burger chain since 1977, famous for its Bacon Egg Burger, flavoured fries and pasta, now run together with Wendy’s. Also built on beef and egg.
- Jollibee (Philippines, since 1978). The Philippine chain that beat McDonald’s at home, with sweet spaghetti on the side. Also built on beef.
- Freshness Burger (Japan, since 1992). Tokyo’s relaxed burger café, famous for a yellow bun made with pumpkin. Also built on beef.
- Lotteria (South Korea, since 1972). The Korean chain that once had more than double McDonald’s market share. Also built on beef.
Not affiliated with Dom Dom Hamburger. Trademarks and logos belong to their owners. Descriptions are my own; nutrition figures come from the chain’s published information, checked October 2026.