A fried egg is sitting on a burger, or a raw yolk is sitting in a bowl of noodles. The reel above is the short version: that egg is the moon. This page is the word on the menu, the line that orders it, and the date the burger leaves.
What does 月見 mean on Japanese food in September?
月見 (tsukimi) means moon-viewing. 月 (tsuki) is the moon. In this word the reading is tsuki, not gatsu. 見 (mi) is looking, and here it is read mi, not ken. The same 見 is in 花見 (hanami), flower viewing. On a September menu the word is not a flavor and not a sauce. The round egg stands in for the harvest moon. McDonald's Japan has sold a 月見バーガー (tsukimi bāgā) every autumn since 1991, and the company says 2026 is its 35th anniversary. The same idea is older than the burger. A bowl of 月見うどん (tsukimi udon) puts a raw egg in hot broth for the same reason. The line in the reel is 月見です。丸い黄身がお月様です (tsukimi desu. Marui kimi ga otsukisama desu). That means "Tsukimi. The round yolk is the moon." 黄身 (kimi) is the yolk. お月様 (otsukisama) is a polite name for the moon.
Why is the egg on a 月見 burger fried?
The burger egg is fried. It is a 目玉焼き (medamayaki), a sunny-side-up egg, and the yolk is left soft so the circle still reads as a full moon. You do not crack a raw egg onto the bun. McDonald's Japan's 26 August 2026 release describes the 月見バーガー as a domestic egg, a beef patty, smoked bacon, and a tomato creamy sauce. The counter price starts at ¥460 with tax. A value set starts at ¥760 with tax. Delivery and some shops charge more, so read the price in front of you. チーズ月見 (chīzu tsukimi) is that burger with cheese, from ¥490 with tax. A box labeled 月見団子 (tsukimi dango) is a different food: plain white dumplings set out for the moon, often beside ススキ (susuki), pampas grass, with no yolk in the box.
How do you order a 月見 burger in Japanese?
Say 月見バーガー、ひとつください (tsukimi bāgā, hitotsu kudasai), "one moon-viewing burger, please." ひとつ (hitotsu) means one. ください (kudasai) is the word that asks for it. 月見バーガーをひとつください is the same line with を (o), the object particle, before the number. Both are fine at the counter. The reel uses the shorter line. For the cheese burger, say チーズ月見、ひとつください (chīzu tsukimi, hitotsu kudasai). The main burger is sold from 10:30 until close. A 24-hour shop serves it until 4:59 the next morning. Before 10:30 the morning item is 月見マフィン (tsukimi mafin), from ¥420 with tax, and the burger is not on the breakfast menu. From 17:00, チーズチーズ倍月見 (chīzu chīzu bai tsukimi) is the night burger, from ¥670 with tax. The poster shortens that name to チーチー倍月見 (chīchī bai tsukimi). Say すみません (sumimasen) first if the counter is busy. Point at the photo of the fried egg if the name is long.
Is the egg in 月見うどん raw?
Yes. 月見うどん (tsukimi udon) and 月見そば (tsukimi soba) usually come with a raw egg, often only the yolk, and you crack it into the hot broth. The yolk is the moon. A strip of 海苔 (nori), dried seaweed, is sometimes laid across it as a cloud. The broth is hot, so the egg firms a little as you stir, and you still started with a raw egg. That is not the burger. The burger egg is already fried. A raw egg on a beef bowl is a third dish. The word there is 生卵 (nama tamago). The beef-bowl page walks through cracking that egg onto rice. Eat the noodle-shop egg in the bowl, at the table. Do not carry it back to the hotel. Japan's health ministry tells older people, children aged two and under, anyone pregnant, and anyone with a weak immune system to skip raw eggs and to eat eggs cooked until the white and the yolk are firm. If that is you, order the burger and leave the noodle yolk. If egg itself is the problem, skip every 月見 item that shows an egg. Say 卵アレルギーがあります (tamago arerugī ga arimasu), "I have an egg allergy," and use the allergy phrases. A soft yolk is still egg. A box of 月見団子 is dumplings, and a packaged sweet can still contain egg, so read the label.
When do the 2026 月見 burgers leave the menu?
McDonald's Japan put the main 月見バーガー on sale on 2 September 2026 and scheduled it through late October. That end date is a plan. A shop can sell out, and the other items leave on different days. The pie was scheduled through early October. The Shine Muscat shake was scheduled through mid-October. The grilled-beef burger, 炙り牛すき焼き風月見 (aburi gyū sukiyaki-fū tsukimi), was planned to end on 23 September. A potato burger, 北海道産じゃがペッパー月見 (Hokkaidō-san jaga peppā tsukimi), joined on 24 September, from ¥570, and was listed through late October. If you are in Japan on 26 September, ask for the core burger after 10:30, or the muffin before that. The same word shows up on other September menus, including convenience-store posters. An egg on a bun is the burger. A stack of white dumplings is 月見団子. Noodle shops are different again. 月見うどん stays on many menus after the burger posters come down. The word on a soba menu in January is still the moon.
What is the difference between 月見 on a menu and 中秋の名月?
中秋の名月 (chūshū no meigetsu) is the moon on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month. In 2026 that night was 25 September. People also call that night 十五夜 (jūgoya). In 名月 the 月 is read getsu, not tsuki. The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan says the custom came from China in the Heian period. The full moon is a different clock. In 2026 it falls at 01:49 on 27 September, two days after the named moon, so on the night of 26 September that moon turns full after midnight. The observatory says a two-day gap also happened in 2017, and the next one is in 2043. Burger posters go up at the start of September, not on either of those nights. お月見 (otsukimi) is the same moon-viewing, with the honorific お. Menus print 月見 and drop that お. A second viewing night, 十三夜 (jūsan'ya), falls on 23 October 2026. Late October is only the planned end of the main burger, so that week you read the date on the item.
Three lines cover the counter. 月見です (tsukimi desu) names the moon on the plate. 月見バーガー、ひとつください (tsukimi bāgā, hitotsu kudasai) orders the fried-egg burger. A raw yolk in hot noodles is 月見うどん (tsukimi udon), and you crack that one yourself. The main burger was scheduled from 2 September through late October 2026. If you should not eat a raw egg, take the burger and leave the noodle-shop yolk.
