Ok, time for some curious facts about Mexican food in Japan... by a Mexican: 1) To make it short: very limited... as in... "scarce, infrequent, rare, hard to get, hard to come by, unavailable and expensive" 2) Most of the time it's not Mexican but Tex-Mex (what it means is that it's a little different from the Mexican-Mexican food, like... Tex-Mex uses more wheat and less corn) In more practical terms it means you don't get mole, pozole and tostadas instead you get fajitas, burritos and nachos with salsa. 3) I've heard stories about joints actually owned by Mexicans in Japan but I am still to step into one of them. So far the ones I've seen are all owned and/or managed by Japanese. The one above is located in Shinjuku, Tokyo but it actually is from an American franchise based in Long Beach, California. 4) Most of the customers (I'd say 70%) are usually foreigners, specially Canadians and Americans. If there are Japanese around is because they have either lived or travelled in Canada, the U.S. and A., Mexico or they were first introduced to Mexican food by another foreigner. 5) Mexican food in Japan is still seen as "ethnic" or "exotic" and... well... sadly, Japanese don't find it appealing in the beginning. The reason is that Japanese and Mexican food are complete opposites: -one has a subtle and delicate taste, the other is bold (hot and spicy) -one is very light, the other is heavy (in other words, you feel full) -one uses mostly fish and vegetables, the other uses meat, chicken, corn and... sour cream So far the only common denominator I have seen is avocado, now you can find Mexican avocados in almost every supermarket all over and yes, the Japanese love them.

The one interesting thing about DC's Chinatown is that a lot of the nationally known stores and restaurant franchises have their names written in Chinese characters. The thing with translation of names into Chinese is that sometimes they're done phonetically and other times, they're done translated for meaning. In this particular case, the name was translated as: ?(?)??? ??? ???(?) (pronounced qi2bo1te14lei3 mo4xi1ge1 kao3rou4guan3). The word "chipotle" was transcripted (ie, phonetically) into Chinese, but ??? ??? means "Mexican roasted meat establishment" Many other stores and restaurants had Chinese names, but the below are probably the most recognizable. I've also noted whether the name was translate by meaning or by sound: Nando's Peri Peri - ??? (meaning; literally, chicken restaurant) Hooter's - ????? (meaning; literally, owl restaurant) Starbucks - ????? (sound and meaning) Legal Seafood - ???? (meaning; literally, seafood restaurant) Bed Bath & Beyond - ??, ??, ??? (meaning; literally bed tool, bath tools, household goods) Ann Taylor Loft - ??? (sound) Urban Outfitters - ???? ???? (meaning; literally: man woman clothing household goods) Dunkin' Donuts - ????? (sound)