Japanese social media trends can be adorably quirky, but for the most part are often limited to the confines of a special "holiday" and reported on with a hint of exaggeration. This past week, however, one fast-food photography trend, mainly on Instagram, has been picking up considerable steam thanks to its jarring visual. The recent trend consists of buying a drink and burger from McDonald's, placing the burger on the lid of the drink, and then thrusting your straw through it. Like so:

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It's being called “drink x hamburger” (ハンバーガーxドリンク) and is being circulated as a "girly" trend (a lot of posts are from Japanese high schoolgirls), but it's not exactly a gender-specific meme. There really is no strong rhyme or reason to it, as most people trying it out say they are doing it for a laugh, or claim that they find the appearance cute. While it's certainly not something you can is common in Japan, the fad has grown a bit in recent weeks.

To be fair, it isn't receiving that warm of a response from some. Quite a few have taken to popular Japanese message boards like 2ch and other social media platforms to knock the trend as being childish and gross because chunks of the burger clog the straw. Either way, it seems to be the fast food call back to a previously popular and more aesthetically pleasing trend doing the same with doughnuts--which at least have holes to make the trend easier.

And like many Japanese online trends, there's cute fan art as well.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.