Japanese McDonald's to offer 48 piece McNuggets meal

NIIGATA , Japan, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- McDonald's restaurants in Japan have begun to offer a 48-piece bucket of chicken McNuggets to accompany a promotional campaign for a national pop group.

Locations in Niigata are offering the massive 48-piece meal, which is significantly larger than the usual Japanese serving size of five or 15 pieces. The choice to include 48 pieces comes from a play on the name of Japanese pop group NGT48.

When the group was announced certain members of the media began referring to them as "Nugget 48".

The buckets feature one of two sets of images of the pop group and each order also contains one of 25 limited edition commemorative cards, featuring individual photos of the singers.

At approximately $16 and 2,000 calories per bucket, Japanese fans of the group would have to consume at least 1,200 nuggets to collect all 25 cards.