What is the perfect shade of green for a kiwi fruit?
It’s not a question you might have ever given any thought to. But it’s a question that bubbles up – like the many pure mountain springs – in the castle town of Gujō Hachiman in Gifu prefecture, central Honshu.
The small mountain town of Gujō Hachiman is the heart of Japan’s food replica (shokuhin sanpuru) industry, supplying 60 per cent of those enticing models seen in restaurant windows throughout Japan. Designed and painted to look more delicious than the real thing, food replicas were originally made in wax but are now manufactured in vinyl resin using silicone moulds.
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The perfect shade of green for a kiwi is exactly the kind of debate that local resident Mina Desette might find herself in with her father, Kaneyama Katsuji. Mr Kaneyama is the president of Sanpuru Kobo, one of the two largest food replica companies in Gujō Hachiman. The company has been manufacturing since 1988 and is credited with bringing the food sample industry – which had previously sold mainly to businesses – direct to consumers. Desette’s earliest memories of her father are him ‘always with an airbrush in hand’.
While shokuhin sanpuru manufacturing was pioneered by local businessman Iwasaki Takizo (who, in 1932, created the first replica Japanese omelette in candle wax), Sanpuru Kobo was the first replica company to sell directly to the public. It was Kaneyama’s vision to encourage more tourists to visit to Gujō Hachiman – to experience its dramatic and beautiful setting on the confluence of three rivers – so, after three years manufacturing food replicas exclusively for restaurants, he switched Sanpuru Kobo’s focus to consumers instead.
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In 1991, Kaneyama opened a shop and workshop in a historic residence in the centre of Gujō Hachiman where visitors could try making their own replicas of Japanese foods and buy souvenir keyrings and magnets. As Sanpuru Kobo became well known within Japan, Mr Kaneyama travelled overseas to promote the business and to forge relationships with travel companies bringing visitors to Gujō Hachiman. Business boomed and a whole new, consumer-focused arm of the replica industry was born. There are now three hands-on, public workshops in Gujō Hachiman, including Sanpuru Kobo, Iwasaki Sample Village and Asahi Sample, where visitors can make souvenir replicas of everything from tempura to fruit desserts and iceberg lettuce. Sanpuru Kobo’s workshop is styled as a Shōwa era (1926-1989) restaurant and school house, filled with nostalgic posters, toys and memorabilia.
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Sanpuru Kobo has four skilled artisans manufacturing its food replicas, by hand, in silicone moulds filled with vinyl resin, which is more robust than wax and the colour longer-lasting. The moulds are baked and then the replicas turned out to be painted or airbrushed. A further 10 staff assemble the ingredients and finish products (adding magnets, keyrings etc), which are made exclusively for sale to shops and tourists. As well as classic dishes such ramen, yakisoba and tempura on display in the shop, there are fun items for sale such as spilt milk bottles and cans, dango keychains and onigiri hair ties. Sanpuru Kobo’s best-selling products are magnets and keyrings of replica oranges, but the largest volume of the samples it makes are replica sushi, which are shipped in huge numbers to its biggest client, Donkihote, the popular discount chain.
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‘To acquire all the skills [to craft sanpuru] takes around 10 years, and the most difficult skill to master is making the colour,’ Desette explains. ‘No one can tell you the colour for a strawberry or for a kiwi, so we have to make the colour by mixing the base colours from scratch, observing and learning how to make a similar colour.’
The right shade of green for kiwi fruit or the right red hue for a strawberry, isn’t only a matter of business, it’s also a surprisingly subjective, Desette explains, holding up a replica strawberry, perfect in every detail, from its shape to the yellowing pips. ‘A ripe strawberry is usually a darker red, but the artisan who made this one likes more sour strawberries so that is why it is this colour.’ It’s true, it looks mouth-wateringly sour.
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She reaches for a cup of tasty-looking kara-age, Japanese fried chicken. ‘The guy who made this kara-age likes crispy ones – which is why it looks so crunchy,’ she says. ‘But the guy who made the new kara-age we have in the shop likes his kara-age softer, so he made it look softer.’
The artisan’s personal taste – and their experience of taste – is in every replica morsel, but the skill to do this takes a decade to hone. ‘When I make the colour for kiwi, my father will say to me, “you need one drop of blue”, and I say to him, “but I love this colour, because I like the taste of kiwi fruit this colour”. But he prefers sweeter, riper kiwi, which is why he needs a drop of blue.’ Desette adds: ‘It is only once you have the experience of “tasting” the colour, that you can do this: until then you must copy from the real fruit.’
Guests at Japan House London during the period of our exhibition Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture which runs from 1 October 2024 to 16 February 2025 will have the chance to assemble their own food replica bento box and share the result on social media.