A big thanks to Paul Nicholls for tracking this story down.

It seems Japan’s two largest and highly unrelated companies have joined forces, according to a Gizmodo report. Japanese cellphone powerhouse NTT DoCoMo will partner with McDonalds “restaurants” purveyors of delicious and nutritious treats such as the Mega Mac:

“No, it won’t be McDonalds-branded cellphones, but this agreement will promote DoCoMo’s IC-card e-cash system in McDonalds restaurants. If you are part of Japan’s McDonalds “membership club” you can begin paying for food using your cellphone’s contactless IC card system. Now you can just swipe your phone to receive a heart-attack, to go.”

The e-cash/cellphone payments concept makes perfect sense, although it may be morally questionable to make it so effortless for children to buy Happy Meals practically on credit. But I didn’t know that McDonalds Japan had a Membership Club? Does anyone here belong? What do members get? Maybe coupons for discounts on triple bypass operations or perhaps Ronald McDonald gives the eulogy at your funeral and hands out little plastic toys to the kids?

In the photo above, NTT DoCoMo President Masao Nakamura (L) and McDonald’s Japan President Eiko Harada stand behind the restaurant chain’s ‘Ronald McDonald’ character following a news conference in Tokyo February 26, 2007, announcing that DoCoMo will offer electronic payment services and special promotions at McDonalds outlets for some of the mobile phone operator’s users.

Photograph courtesy of REUTERS/Michael Caronna (JAPAN)