Melon bread is loved in Japan. Besides being a favorite snack, it also pops up in manga and anime. And now, people can wear it on their heads. Or at least a beret that looks like the bread. Yay!
Above, these are hand-made melon bread berets from Marisan Bakery. You, of course, cannot eat these hats, because, as mentioned above, they're not actual bread. But they sure look delicious, as do the bread-inspired pouches, purses and bags.
[Photo: cappuccino_P]
[Photo: Kakkokari]
Melon bread is seriously delicious. Not only animated characters love it! If you are not familiar with melon bread (メロンパン or "meron pan"), it gets the name from the melon-like, sweet crust that covers the top of the fluffy bread. Below, you can see actual melon bread.
[Photo: Sakurai Midori]
[Photo: skr_stelle]
Don't wear this on your head. Put it in your belly.
A melon bread beret goes for 5,400 yen (US$45). There are other bread-inspired accessories, too: a melon bread purse is 6,400 yen ($54), while pouches are 2,600 yen ($22) each.
Each is handmade one-by-one in Osaka, so these are not mass-produced items. And because of that, and due to the recent attention Marisan Bakery has been getting online in Japan, many of the items are selling out. With that kind of popularity, Marisan might want to hire some more beret bakers, er, makers.
Marisan Bakery [Official Site]
Marisan Official [Twitter]
Top photo: 山本かおり@YouTube
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.