Imagine a place not unlike any city here in America. There’s a couple schools. A good mix of families and young people. A police force, a fire department, a hospital—all the usual stuff, with the exception of one thing: Every single person who lives in this place is a Ronald McDonald impersonator. Sounds crazy, right? Wrong.
Welcome to some place in Japan where that’s probably the deal.
Yup. It’s most likely called Piero Toshi, or, as there’s a good chance it’s colloquially referred to, Ronald Village. An entire city of men, women, and children, all going about their daily lives in the likeness of the famous fast-food clown Ronald McDonald. To you, it might sound like something out of an episode of The Twilight Zone. But to the people of some city in Japan where this is presumably the whole shtick, it’s all they’ve ever known.
Wow. What a fascinating community that probably exists somewhere in Japan, like maybe up in the hills somewhere? Sure seems within the realm of possibility.
To an outsider, mornings in the city are a surreal scene, with the town square most likely abustle with dozens of people cheerfully galumphing to work in those signature yellow overalls and bright red shoes. Chances are a young Ronald McDonald can be seen helping an older Ronald McDonald across the street. And you gotta think that three child Ronald McDonalds are waiting for the bus to pick them up and take them to school. This is the strange and peculiar reality of somewhere, if not in Japan, then maybe in Norway? No, Japan seems more likely. Let’s go with Japan.
By all accounts, these Ronald McDonalds are normal folks, aside from the fact that they’ve sequestered themselves and devoted their lives to impersonating the most famous fast-food mascot of all time. At least, that seems like a thing you could hear about existing in Japan, and you wouldn’t really question it because it seems believable. After all, they’ve already got that robot restaurant, so why not this? This definitely feels like some shit Japan would for sure have going on somewhere.
So the next time you’re in Japan, make sure to pay a visit to this unique city of Ronald McDonald impersonators that almost certainly is a thing. What an amazing world we live in!
