> As elsewhere, people do resent the
>"Americanisation" that is happening, and will be
>quite vocal when a branch of McDondald's or
>Starbucks opens in a country village somewhere. On
>the other hand, SuGo (a franchised sushi restaurant)
>will be seen as "novel". This double standard is
>quite hard to avoid, and seems to center around
>specific, well known companies rather than any
>genuine anti-American sentiment. Of course, enough
>people still buy their products to keep this
>"Americanisation" a profitable venture.

See, the thing that most everybody outside the US doesn't get is WE HATE THIS TOO. There isn't a town in the US that doesn't have at least some section of the populace complaining whenever a new Walmart, or a new Starbucks, or a new Home Depot opens up in their neighborhood. You often hear it being said that all these big corporate stores are ruining "Main Street USA" (whatever that might have been) and driving all the mom-and-pop places out of business. Boulder, the city I used to live in, tried to pass a law banning chain restaurants from opening within the city limits. Any current restaurant was grandfathered, but no new chain restaurants could be opened. I don't know if it passed or not, but just the fact that they *tried* makes it clear that a not-insignificant portion of the population doesn't *want* any more Red Lobsters or McDonalds.

So spread the word. WE DON'T LIKE IT EITHER AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. We're sorry.

-- Dave