(ドナルド) The story behind this trend in Social Media today
01-10-2026
Today’s social-media trend around “(ドナルド)” comes from a name change by McDonald’s Japan.On October 1, 2026, the company posted an image of its longtime clown mascot sitting on a bench, captioned roughly “Donald, what’s going to happen?” The picture itself declared that from today he is “Ronald.” The post spread quickly, with people reacting in surprise, nostalgia, and jokes about whether the character was “coming back.”The change is tied to the charity houses for families of children in hospital. Japan’s first such house opened 25 years ago under the name Donald McDonald House. From October 1 the foundation and brand were aligned with the worldwide name, becoming Ronald McDonald House Japan, with an updated logo. The mascot’s Japanese name was switched at the same time.Internationally the character has always been Ronald McDonald. In Japan he was long called Donald McDonald, a form chosen because it was easier for Japanese speakers to say and because it matched the “McDonald’s” branding. Generations of ads, toys, and events used “Donald,” so the sudden official shift to the original English name felt abrupt even though it was mainly a global-standardization move.The online conversation is mostly light: people noting they had assumed the name came from “McDonald’s,” asking whether everyday speech will switch to Ronald, and treating the old name as a piece of local nostalgia.