McDonald's Japan reveals Hatsune Miku collaboration

Modified Mar 11, 2025 15:35 GMT

Sunday, March 9, 2025 saw another Miku Day come and go in Japan, bringing with it the reveal of McDonald’s Japan’s upcoming Hatsune Miku collaboration after teasing it in February. The iconic Vocaloid singer and mascot is specifically collaborating with the company’s McShaker fries (also known as Shaka Shaka Potato in Japan).

The collaboration includes a parody of the famous Hatsune Miku song “Mikumiku Ni Shiteageru [Shiteyanyo]” by saying “Shakashaka ni Shiteageru” instead. In addition to the fully produced parody song, an animated music video parodying the song was also posted to McDonald’s Japan’s various social media accounts.

McDonald’s Japan says restaurants will become “MikuDonald’s” in light of Hatsune Miku collaboration

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The music video parodying the aforementioned Hatsune Miku song was both posted to the brand’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, and uploaded to its official YouTube channel. In addition to this parody music video, the brand’s official X account also posted chibi-style artwork of Miku seemingly performing the parody song. Beside her recording station can be seen a bag of McShaker fries, the food item which Miku is primarily collaborating with here.

McDonald’s Japan also confirmed that Miku will become the voice of all McDonald’s in-store announcements until Wednesday, March 19, 2025. In the same X post, the company adds that “McDonald’s becomes MikuDonald’s” as a result of this collaboration. As of this article’s writing, there seem to be no other major aspects of this collaboration. However, it’s possible that this is only the first of multiple collaborative stages with the iconic Vocaloid singer.

The Miku song being parodied for the McDonald’s Japan collaboration was originally written and composed by musician ika_mo (Kamo Tsuruta) in 2007. The song gained significant popularity among Hatsune Miku fans via the Niconico streaming service. 2014 saw enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi parody the song in 2014, further boosting the original’s popularity and driving international intrigue to Miku likewise.

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The first teaser for the collaboration came on February 19, with a silhouette of what was obviously Miku being posted to McDonald’s Japan’s socials. The caption read that “this year’s McShaker fries will feature this person,” thought at the time to be and recently confirmed as Miku. Further cementing this initial belief was that the company posted a parody video of the Niconico video titled “Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” by daniwell.

Miku was developed by Vocaloid developer Crypton Future Media and released in August 2007. The character has become a global icon since being released alongside the software, and is even starring in a new film titled COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing. The film originally opened in Japanese theaters on January 17, 2025, opening at #2 in the box office. GKIDS has confirmed that it will screen the film internationally starting on April 11, 2025.