Burger King woos Japan with 'angry' burger

TOKYO -- The Angry Whopper is arriving in Japan, a nation where the competition over hamburgers is as sizzling hot as the new spicy offering from fast-food chain Burger King.

To make sure people got the message, Burger King hosted an "angry shouting challenge" contest in downtown Tokyo Wednesday, in which passersby were invited to scream their frustrations away.

"I need to get a girlfriend," a man yelled at the top of his lungs in an effort to win the prize, a year's worth of Whoppers.

"Professor, give me my credits," exclaimed another.

The Angry Whopper, introduced in December in the U.S., has jalapeno chili peppers and hot sauce, as well as a burger patty, onions, cheese, bacon, tomatoes and lettuce on a sesame seed bun.

The 460 yen ($4.90) burger, whose sauce has been slightly adapted to Japanese tastes, will be added, starting Thursday, to the Japanese menu, which already includes the Double Whopper, Croissan'wich and Onion Rings.

Burger King Japan President Hitoshi Arimoto said it is the perfect flavor for riding out the economic downturn.

"The Angry Whopper is landing in Japan," he told a crowd in front of the 109 shopping complex in Shibuya, a district popular with trendy youngsters.

But Burger King, the world's No. 2 hamburger chain with 11,600 restaurants around the world, is a tiny player in Japan, with just 16 stores, mostly in Tokyo and surrounding areas.

It faces intense competition from McDonald's, with 3,750 stores nationwide and 30,000 globally, as well as Japanese burger chains, like Lotteria, which are less known overseas.

Lotteria is gaining attention with a money-back campaign this month for its 360 yen ($3.80) Exquisite Burger if customers are unhappy with the taste.

Burger King withdrew from the Japanese market in 2001, partly after losing a price war with McDonald's, but returned to Japan in 2007, for another crack at the world's second-largest economy.

Food business consultant Jotaro Fujii says the competition in Japan's burger business is heating up because the nation now has a whole generation of people who grew up on McDonald's.