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Comment by rdevilla | Hacker News Reader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

That would be the charitable reason, but I wonder if it could be more related to their laws on accurate representations in ads (Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations [0]).

[0] https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2303/e...

That doesn't seem to bother burger king though: https://www.burgerking.co.jp/menu

IANAL, so I won't quote relevant text from previous link, but I believe promotional photos need to be of the actual food (ie not substituting shaving cream for whipped cream to deal with melting issue), but it will likely be a very picturesque version of it, though they are indeed (less, but still) askew in those photos. I looked a bit further, and it seem the American BK uses similar (though not exact) photos of their JP counterpart now, maybe it's a trend, but I did find a rather stark contrast with their AU counterpart (naming is another story):

https://www.hungryjacks.com.au/Upload/HJ/Media/Menu/product/...

compared to the Japanese:

https://www.burgerking.co.jp/images/menu/web/main/2025/09/04...

That was my first thought, too. Never ever looked a burger from any of the well-known chains the way it looks on photos.

That's like claiming ketchup is red because of Americans' affinity for the colors of the flag. It has a slight whiff of facts, but is completely ignorant of the basic concept behind wabi-sabi/tomato ketchup.

Please don’t compare a beautiful practice with the symbol of ultra-capitalism.

Probably it’s some sociopathic psychologist working for McDonalds that find out that askew buns makes them sell 0.2% more units per year, which is around half a gazillion dollars in increased revenue.

Maybe 500 years into the future burger bun photography will be treated as a "beautiful practice" while nutrient syringes are getting shoved into our other buns.

Why can't it be both?

Because it's not. From another comment: "Being slightly aswew really hard to fight the subconscious urge to reach out and 'fix' them. I almost want to rush out to a nearest McDonald's right now and buy one of these burgers"

Urge to fix something, or tricking one to spend money for a novelty is quite literally the opposite of wabi-sabi.

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