On January 31st, 2020, the McDonald's at Showa Dori in the Akihabara neighborhood of Tokyo closed its doors. As some of our readers may recall, the Burger King two buildings over left a touching tribute in a poster displayed at the front window for all to see, thanking their "rival and friend" for bringing "much happiness" for the past 22 years.

Echoing the sentiments of many who frequent the Akihabara area, the poster said: "Thinking of a future without McDonald-san fills us with sadness."

But cheer up Burger King-san, your old rival and friend is coming back!

As passers-by have surely noticed, the shiny new Chiyoda Terrace building now finishing construction has one very prominent feature: the Golden Arches!

And this time it looks like there are at least three floors, which means it may be larger than its neighboring Burger King store.

Taking a closer look at the signage, the apparently bigger Akihabara Showa Dori McDonald's, which is scheduled to officially open on April 1st, is now recruiting part-time employees at a rate of 1,100 JPY for high schoolers and up, and 1,350 JPY for night shifts beginning from 22:00.

It's also drumming up excitement in the neighborhood with a large banner on the right saying:

Anticipation for the return of the friendly fast-food rivalry between the two stores also played out on social media. For example, in a Tweet that got over 7,800 likes and nearly 3,500 retweets, user ヨダチン Yodachin (@yodachin0330) said:

The Tweet elicited many comments, such as:

On their recruiting website for the location, McDonald's says:

"We'd like to welcome those who want to make history with us!"

Will that history include more interesting episodes in McDonald's friendly rivalry with Burger King? Only time will tell. We'll have an update if anything happens after April 1st.