
I remember seeing Krispy Kreme Donuts open in Tokyo and there was a massive queue of a few hundred
Yea~h, Singaporeans do the same thing. Probably the exact same thing. We can queue for 2-hours for okay donuts, queue overnight for Hello Kitty plushies, .... everything.
We really don't have small food vendors on street corners where I live. Instead, we just have restaurants to eat out at. During "dinner time" the queues can get up to about an hour or two depending on the establishment.
One I can think of here is Home Town Buffet...queue usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes though...
Your post about queues reminded me of the long queue for the quite recently newly opened Beard Papa (the only small stall in Richmond, Vancouver). I took a picture of when we were at the end of the queue =_=; http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2106/1596629528_e9b31762ba_o.jpg We waited in line for a bit more than 1 and half hours just to get a dozen :P
Eh danny... i saw your video on youtube and i think you have a very nice dance move :) i'm your big fan!!
Kinda rare here in Brazil, since not that many people will go to restaurants just yet. But on special dates... like mother and father's day, this can happen. But it's still kinda different from Japan. I've seen this happening when I've been on Japan... found it a little curious. Here in Brazil, if you actually have to stay in line just to eat in a restaurant, chances are people will just give up and search for some place else. We already do have to stay in line for too many stuff... so when people are going to relax somewhere, which is usually the case when going to eat on a restaurant, no one wants to stay in line...
There are a lot of places downtown that get lines, from restaurants to clubs. Whats interesting is Genki sushi always having lines though it's nothing compared to what I had in Japan lol. Once you eat it in Japan the local places just won't do ^^.
yeah i've seen lines like that here in Los Angeles, for the really good sushi or Tokyo style korean bbq in hollywood/beverlyhills area...lines that go out into the street...Gyu-Kaku was one i waited a good 25-20miniutes to get into, off of Pico...and the bigger american resturants Lawry's or Cheesecake factory. its good food and great atmosphere, and maybe some random movie or sports start thrown in for the fun of it...
That familiar yellow sign ! Jiro ! My favourite !!
How do you NOT find people queuing up to eat elsewhere in Japan? People do that in every city I've ever been in from Phillie to Seoul to New York to Boston, etc etc. Though I think most restaurants in New York queue mostly through reservations but people STILL line up with that system.
I was in München, Germany a year ago with a few friends and we had to wait for 45 minutes! The place was packed and we couldn't get seats. When we finally did, we got our food really fast and it was amazing! In the end, it was worth the wait.

people just tend to go somewhere else if the place is full here... and if it's often full you just reserve a table prior to going, solves all problems :)
ive seen queue to public rest rooms that long when i was in japan. especially the to the female ones ^_^ not a pleasant experience when you use to open spaces like in NZ. shoulder to shoulder urinals *shutters*
ラーメン二郎、並んで食べたことあります。 美味しいけど量がものすごく多くておなかがパンパンに なりました。 ラーメン二郎は何店舗かあるけど、ここは僕が 行ったところと同じかもしれないです。
Yeah its just the same in Singapore. The longest I queued for was 4 hours for barbecued pork every chinese new year. Though I still don't understand why people can queue so long for donuts which I consider snack food.
its inevitable
Yeah. Singaporeans have the herd instinct. If they're at a new food court and has to decide on which stall to buy from, they'd make a bee line for the one with the longest queue. Some enterprising people have paid people to queue at the stalls/restaurant to attract more people to their food outlet.
Yes, what Zero and Alafista said were true.
yes people do queue for food here which i believe happens everywhere as well. for me if i see a long queue, i'll just look for other stalls with shorter queue. i hate wasting time.
Funnily enough Danny, there's a Japanese restaurant in London's Chinatown now called Misato, and there's always a queue to get in!
In Burnaby, just outside Vancouver, there is a place called Anton's Pasta--there is no point in even going if you don't get there before 5PM. There will be a several hour line after that, regardless of the day, and you might not even get to eat there before they close several hours later.
We have so many great restaurants out here (there are usually ten of the in a 2 mile radius) its hard to decide where to eat! The best places are usually the hole-in-the-wall, or the mom and pop restaurants. They have great food, less people go, and the price is usually great. In Scottsdale Zinc Bistro is my favorite (French cuisine).
Daikokuya in japan town gets sorta busy like this on some late night weekends, but not as crazy as a long line outside since over here you usually write your name on the list and go about doing other things to kill time. Orochon ramen gets crowded too but not queued up. Shinsengumi ramen in San Gabriel (on Valley blvd) gets queued up like this on late-nite weekdays though.
Whenever I go around to the Chinese restaurants, on weekends you'll have to wait a bit to get a seat but during weekdays it should be ok.
oh i miss Matsudo SO much! I used to live there. back when the bandai museum was still a new attraction. and i think the line ups are silly... although just yesterday i wanted in a line outside the store for Ramen. no good Ramen shops around here! and the hours! they're only open for 3h at lunch and 3 at dinner! wtf.
in singapore people tend to join Q if there is one just to try it out. Something i thought of. If you want people to try you food, pay a few to Q up again and again. :D as to make the Q long. ( they go by the back door to pass back the food and Q again )
i see queue everyday
I see small lines around town daily but not huge ones like shown.
we have large queues when a new establishment (often food) newly opens like when Krispy Kreme first opened here... we also have large queues during mall sales XDDD
A Beard Papa (the choux creme puff place) just recently opened in Richmond and the line-ups are usually about 1 1/2hrs long! And like someone else has posted earlier, the Anton's pasta place always has a good hour wait. Another place is Stepho's, a greek place on Davie St in Vancouver that has a long queue every evening.
I'm sure it happens in my area, but not too often.
The only reason people line up outside a store here is to line up at a popular bar or nightclub, and even then, only in the summer really.
The only time I ever see people standing outside waiting for something is when a new video game console launches. For restaurants people will either take one look and see if it is full and leave or they will call ahead and make a reservation.