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[Update: See the Big America lineup for 2011 here.]

The Big Mac is the focus of McDonald’s menu marketing in most countries, including the U.S., where it’s the centerpiece of Avatar promotions. In Japan, however, the chain is working hard to establish its Quarter Pounder, which it introduced a little over a year ago.

To that end, McDonald’s has introduced a rapid-fire series of quarter-pound burger variations, the likes of which never could have been imagined by Al Bernardin, the sandwich’s inventor who died recently at age 81. A Quarter Pounder Bacon & BBQ was followed by the Quarter Pounder Lettuce & Tomato in last year’s fourth quarter. With Wendy’s having bowed out, McDonald’s is moving to cement its position in the burger marketplace in Japan, where it has more than 3,700 units.

Now McDonald’s/Japan is readying a “Big America” menu promotion, a series of four limited-time quarter-pound burgers thematically tied to U.S. locales. Beginning next week, the first choice will be the Texas Burger topped with barbecue sauce, crispy fried onions, bacon and cheese. It has a Big Mac-style double-decker bun, but only a single beef patty.

The New York, marketed alongside a photo of the Brooklyn Bridge, cycles onto the menu in February. Its toppings include a grainy mustard sauce, bacon, lettuce, tomato and Monterey Jack cheese. The California is made locale-appropriate with a red-wine sauce as well as Jack cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and bacon on a cheese-topped bun. The promotion concludes with the Hawaiian, which sports a fried egg, bacon, cheese, lettuce and the cheese-topped bun.