It’s kind of like they’re selling you a dream of the food

April 22, 2022 7:51 AM

FAUX FEAST - There is an estimated multibillion-dollar market in Japan for life-size food models. The craftsmanship can be extraordinary.
posted by andoatnp (14 comments total)

Very cool, though is there a citation on the multi-billion dollar figure?

Everywhere I looked referenced a multi-billion yen market, which would be a heck of an overstatement from the NYT magazine.
posted by a complicated history at 8:11 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

I didn't think the Dagwood sandwich could be topped, but the pizza margherita sneakers blew my mind.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:20 AM on April 22, 2022

a particularly luxurious coelacanth

Um, do Japanese consumers eat coelacanth? I'm really hoping not...
posted by aramaic at 8:30 AM on April 22, 2022

These were probably my favorite thing about Japan. So ubiquitous, so weird, so pretty!
posted by potrzebie at 8:42 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Oh, this is cool, thank you for sharing.

I wonder what the market is for a plastic model of half a wildly overripe banana?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:59 AM on April 22, 2022

Those pizza shoes are absolutely disgusting and I want a pair immediately.
posted by echo target at 9:03 AM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

the models had become a kind of growing physical archive of Japanese cuisine, documenting minute regional differences with every new custom order

So the centralized (?) model industry isn’t efficiency-ing the whole country into uniformity, that’s really neat. (At least, not uniformizing very fast. Could one use the models to figure that out?)
posted by clew at 9:26 AM on April 22, 2022

You can get model kits to make this stuff like other hobbyists make train sets - HMS2 on Youtube does them sometimes!
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 9:34 AM on April 22, 2022

There's a Japanese style hotel popular with Westerners in the Asakusa section of Tokyo called i-forget-what, but right next to this part of town, definitely within several blocks walking distance, is what I had heard at the time was the place for this, the Plastic Restaurant Food District. There were several shops with the models scattered throughout the store, some behind glass, very much a "can I touch this?" experience, and a sense that there was a non-retail industry in these things lurking over in the backstreets.

They can get quite expensive indeed, I could have easily spent $1000 there but I evaluated my own fashion choices and how much they would accumulate dust in my own kitchen and apartment, and got only a bowl of miso soup (two pieces: the bowl and the soup) for my friend that was pretty great. Floating tofu cubelets and everything!
posted by rhizome at 2:21 PM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

I recall traveling in Japan many years back and, not speaking or reading the language (head held down in shame), being told that in a pinch when eating out, it would be acceptable to take one’s server out to the display of food models at the front of a restaurant and simply point at what you wanted.

Or maybe I only dreamed this…?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 3:56 PM on April 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

No, you didn't dream this, dude. When I lived in Japan in the 80s, it was common practice for the server to take you out front so you could point to what you wanted. And the server initiated this practice; I had not heard of it in a guidebook or anything. And no shame in visiting Japan without learning the language. The Japanese do not expect gaijin to be capable of learning their culture and language, and appear to be amazed that we can parrot a few phrases and use chopsticks. Sorry if this appears to be sarcastic about the people of that wonderful country...but you should hear my hafu wife talk about Japanese xenophobia!
posted by kozad at 5:29 PM on April 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

Dr. Raven Sable? Is that you?
posted by humbug at 6:35 PM on April 22, 2022

There's a Japanese style hotel popular with Westerners in the Asakusa section of Tokyo called i-forget-what, but right next to this part of town, definitely within several blocks walking distance, is what I had heard at the time was the place for this, the Plastic Restaurant Food District.

The area you're talking about is Kappabashi.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 8:17 PM on April 22, 2022

This is impressive as hell and really beautiful, but I think my favorite is the slice of pizza that looks like it's being levitated directly out of the pie. I know it goes with the floating forks and chopsticks beside it, but something about those cheesy tendrils, straining to hold back the slice as it ascends into the astral plane; perfection.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:18 PM on April 22, 2022 [2 favorites]