Bain Capital, the Massachusetts-based private equity firm, bought the master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza in Japan.

The PE firm will buy Higa Industries Co., which operates nearly 200 Domino’s stores in Japan, for terms undisclosed. The PE firm bought 100% of the company; the sellers includes Duskin Co., Daiwa SMBC Capital and Ernest Higa, the company’s chief executive. A representative said the PE firm will not immediately seek further deals.

Bain has made prior in chain dining establishments Dunkin’ Donuts and Burger King; the PE firm also bought a majority stake in 1998 in Domino’s and maintains a significant minority investment in the company, which went public in 2004.

The deal also represents, for Bain, a continuing presence in Asia. It recently bought into Japan’s Bellsystem24, a call center, for a reported $1 billion in a bargain divestiture from Citigroup. The PE firm established a presence in Asia in 2006.

Yuji Sugimoto, a Bain managing director, said the deal presents opportunities for store growth and operations improvements but did not mention any additional M&A.

The lingering recession has pushed financial buyers to continually eye sub-sectors that are attractive to consumers on lean budgets. Pizza, it seems, has emerged as a viable option time and again. When preparing to buy rival Cadbury in this year’s mega-deal, Kraft Foods sold its frozen pizza business to rival Nestle for $3.7 billion.

Also, Linsalata Capital Partners acquired Spartan Foods of America (and, the target’s film-themed Mystic Pizza brand) in late 2009.