Mos and Mac

While someone somewhere is eating naegmyun in a hole-in-the-wall shop staffed by a surly Korean auntie, I am scarfing down a Raisu Ba-ga (rice burger) at Mos while waiting for the friendly staff at Mac to figure out why my space bar isn't working... Actually, I know why! I dropped it in the Narita terminal while whiling away the 6 hours of my stopover online. (Friends who have chatted with me over msn will appreciate that I am finally fixing the space bar problem... I will be able to type sentences which are not just composed of one really long word!)

Before leaving Taipei, I was thinking I could take advantage of Narita to have all those wierd Japanese specialties that, although available in Taipei, are few and far between. I hate to admit it, but I had secretly wished there was a Mos burger in my neighborhood... and a place to have cream anmitsu (a sweet made from green tea ice cream with red bean topping and sprinkled with Mochi/jelly-like things).

Anyway, Narita airport didn't work out well for me... but on returning to Taipei, it turns out that my wish came true and there are new Mos Burgers cropping up all over! There is now one right next to my office and one around the corner from my Mac shop! . Former students at Nichi Dai University in Tokyo (from whose business program the chain sprang from) are sticking out their tongues at the Taipei Times, who said the chain wouldn't survive here (based on it's higher prices... and from observing that 15 McDonald branches closed recently). I am guessing the secret to their success in Taiwan is PEANUT BUTTER! Imagine biting into your burger of shrimp bits sandwiched between two patties made of rice and detecting the slight hint of... peanuts! Or better yet, you sink your teeth into your breakfast of egg mos-muffin and again find the flavor of peanut butter mingling with your eggs and ham! Mmmmm! This should work in Thailand, too. Don't you think so?

My question to all Japanese patrons is, "Is PEANUT BUTTER slathered on the items of the Japanese menu too?

PS. Unfortunately, although the Mac guy (from around the corner of the Mos burger) had a keyboard from a used laptop he wanted to GIVE me, the space bar had the same problem as mine... so we had to order a new one. Should be in next week.