In Japan, plastic food models aren’t just for restaurants anymore

By Nevin Thompson

In Japan, plastic models of food are common outside of just about every eatery. In order to provide potential customers with information about exactly what’s on the menu, shokuhin sanpuru (??????, “food samples”), or highly detailed replicas of every dish served in the restaurant, are displayed near the entrance. Customers peruse the food samples, and then decide to enter the shop or keep looking for someplace to eat.

Kappabashi- home to industries

There is an entire industry devoted to creating these food samples. The Tokyo neighborhood of Kappabashi is home to a cluster of these small businesses that make plastic food samples, which German filmmaker Wim Wenders documented in his movie Tokyo-Ga more than 20 years ago.

While plastic food samples are so common in Japan as to be unnoticeable to most Japanese people, there is a new trend in Japan to turn them into eye-catching cellphone accessories and other knick-knacks.

�祥寺�急百貨店��食�サンプル展示販売中��。#食�サンプル#ストラップ pic.twitter.com/evagZC1PwV

— 食å“�サンプルã�®ã�ªã�Œã�Šé£Ÿç ” (@nagaosample) May 7, 2017

Writing on Naver Matome, blogger itinii has collected a variety of social media links with photos of this twist on shokuhin sanpuru.

Now on sale: new smartphone straps based on food samples used at Kichijoji Tokyu department store.

Food samples have been turned into a variety of kitschy collectibles including, in this case, refrigerator magnets:

�京駅��食�サンプル展示販売�����マグ�ットを貼り付�る。#食�サンプル
#ストラップ#マグ�ット pic.twitter.com/8wD8wnjQyI

— 食å“�サンプルã�®ã�ªã�Œã�Šé£Ÿç ” (@nagaosample) May 17, 2017

For a new display at Tokyo Station, here are some shokuhin sample fridge magnets.

The food sample novelty boom is becoming increasingly more elaborate. In this case, a kaisen-don (a popular seafood rice bowl) has been transformed into a smartphone stand.

���三角コーナーも使���よ（笑）����スマホスタンド����ゃ��。

今回も��京駅����作������。#食�サンプル pic.twitter.com/JajjOcFjgE

— 食å“�サンプルã�®ã�ªã�Œã�Šé£Ÿç ” (@nagaosample) May 19, 2017

We’ve found a good use for a triangular serving dish (lol) as a smartphone stand. Once again, we made this for the Tokyo Station exhibition.

And here, it’s an apple that holds up your smartphone:

■スマホスタンド：りん�を大胆�カット��作��デザイン性��象的。�愛�彩り�������雰囲気�素敵�食�サンプル風りん��スマホスタンド��。http://t.co/6DBORdH3xu pic.twitter.com/amuE3kHSiE

— 大人ã�®ã�Šæ´’è�½æƒ…å ± 0107 (@0107interior) September 8, 2015

Designed to look like an apple with a notch cut out for a smaphone, this is a striking design.

This is just the beginning of an increasing descent into whimsy. Some smartphone stand and case designers allow you to create your own work of art, in this case, by using ikura, or salmon roe that is a popular topping served with white rice. One Twitter user doubts:

��イクラ��ん�食�サンプルiPhoneケース�『���カスタマイズ用�50粒も付属�イクラ��？��ー���✨✨����る人�る�？�����ょ。��������ょ pic.twitter.com/eSq8yTV2iy

— ã�‹ã�®ã�¾ã‚“ (@kanotantan) April 30, 2017

Is there anyone out there who is going to say, “Wow, cool, I can customize my smartphone case with salmon roe?” I think I’ll be the only one.

The fake food accessory boom also can take perhaps less appetizing forms, including gag items to startle coworkers and family members.

今日作��食�サンプル�アイス溶��る風�スマホスタンド✌��✨
������りピアス�シャケ�ストラップ買��〜💓 pic.twitter.com/kkxlMq1PWn

— ã�‚りよりã�®ã�‚ã‚ŠðŸ�œ (@goyaya_ars8) May 3, 2017

Our newest smartphone stand comes in the form of melting ice cream. We also have rice ball (onigiri) earrings and a dried salmon smartphone strap.

To see more quirky uses of fake food, check out itinii’s Naver Matome blog post, or follow the Twitter hashtag #??????#?????.

And to learn more about the original trend that started it all, this video provides a glimpse of Kappabashi in Tokyo, a district devoted to supplying the restaurant industry, including with shokuhin sanpuru.

As well as this video, which gives an overview of how Japanese food samples are actually made.

Nevin Thompson Nevin Thompson is the Japan Editor for Global Voices. He is a translator, writer, and journalist, and has been connected to Japan for more than twenty years.

This article has been previously published in Global Voices.

Featured Image Source: Visual Hunt.

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