John W. wrote:

> My best description of that concoction Japanese refer to as hambaagu
> (I'm sticking with this way of rendering the spelling) is that it's
> what we in the US refer to as meatloaf, just smaller. This was one of
> those great surprises to me when I first arrived in Japan, because in
> the US we have the Chopped Steak, which is a large hamburger patty sans
> bun, and I loves the Chopped Steak, but in Japan what on the menu
> looked like Chopped Steak was in fact meatloaf.

A phenomenon not restricted to Japan. I have to explain to customers 
every day that what the Dutch call a cheeseburger and what Americans 
call a cheeseburger are very different, and the desecration my chef 
wreaks on that innocent piece of meat is actually intentional. I find 
that warning Merkins in advance saves me any number of confrontations.

KWW