Here is an actual restaurant display:

https://flic.kr/p/NvYCYA][/url]Ganso Sample-02 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

A non-Japanese friend ingeniously figured out ordering in these restaurants by photographing the window display and showing it to the waitress.

Different......now all you need is the "Easy Bake Oven" and you're all set.

Actually, all you need is hot water!  The noodles are heated to soften them.  A stand is included to do the fork suspended in mid-air like in the restaurant example.

I wonder how many people would try it if you put it on the tables at the local model show?

Caveman

I wonder how many people would try it if you put it on the tables at the local model show?

 

Oh now don't you start giving me ideas! 

mississippivol

And just how would you weather that? 

Ha ha, well you wouldn't want mud or paint chips in your food would you?  At first glance these kits might seem like something for the kiddies, but they will require a deft hand to make them look convincing.  OK I make spaghetti a lot, so it shouldn't be THAT hard to do!  The cashier at the store made sure that I understood that this was a DIY kit.  We are modelers, so we can handle it.  :)  I think I hear the Swedish Chef's theme starting...

Hi;

 Believe it or not , I ran into these things when I was there back in the late 60s . Pretty convincing .They did an article on " How it's Made " some many months back on just this product .

    I would NOT recommend them to anyone who's prone to hangovers !    T.B.

I too visited Japan and was enthralled by these SUN-PO-RU (Sample) products.  As a sushi chef in Ohio I once did a grand opening at the Wolstein Center and had real sushi to eat.  I also did a montage/diorama of plastic sushi.  You'd be surprised how many stupid people tried to pick them up and bit into it!  LOL!  LOL!  

I would just laugh at them and when they asked why I was laughing I would tell them; "Me no speaky English"!  LOL!  Of course being of Japanese decent, that was so easy to pull off.  LOL!

Toshi

I had a chance to see their store in Kappabashi on two occasions.  Kappabashi has a main drag which is lined with every kind of store that deals with retail operations, selling stuff like cash registers, display shelving, price tags... and fake food.  I was amazed by the detailed paint application, notably the squid chromatophores (those are the teeny dots of pigment that the squid uses to change colors). I still can't figure out how they did that.

A friend bought some fake tonkatsu (pork cutlet), two scoops of rice, some shredded cabbage, and a little bit of shoga (ginger) to make a Hawaii style 'katsu plate lunch.  It took us a long time to get the ginger, as I had no idea what the Japanese word was for it.  This was back in the pre-google days.  It set him back $80(!!!), but he still has it displayed at his office.

I'm planning on distributing several different kits to my friends this weekend, so I'll post photos of the results (assuming any of us finish something presentable).

I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so...  But not really.  I'm made in the USA but with parts from Japan.  

Kappabashidoro is where my grandmother owned a ryokan, a Japanese inn.  I would spend many amazing and wonderful summers there.  I know exactly what you're talking about.  It's an amazing place!  At one point, I didn't want to come back home to Honolulu, Hawaii.  

My grandmother would let me roam the streets by myself, she spoiled me ridiculously. Asakusa, the suburb of Tokyo of where kappabashidoro is is also known for it's most amazing foods.  Real foods!  LOL!  I remember having the most deliciously prepared meals and seeing establishments that were 200 years old.  That was 1979.  My last time in Japan, I just turned thirteen.  

Returning home to Honolulu, Hawaii on Date Street next to Lunalilo Elementary, I yearned for the day to return to Japan.  That was never to be. I did get to see my grandmother one last time when she visited Honolulu.

Toshi

I wanted to add a very thank you to you sir.  With TBI, I at times forget my past.  You've reawaken a long forgotten memory for me.  I am forever grateful to you sir.  Once again, thank you so much!

Toshi

Oh wow, I saw some of the plastic sushi over on HobbyLink Japan and well... I was wondering if they were running out of stuff to model over there! 

I didn't look further but HLJ seems to have a fairly wide range of plastic esatz food if anyone wants any.

BTW: I went by the local Korean place yesterday and had the squid in hot sauce- I forget what they call it Ogingo Bokkum or something like that. Wouldn't mind having some in plastic to stick in the 'frigd and freak people out... 

Toshi, that was a great story!  I also have nostalgic memories of my grandparents' house in Owada, Chiba, where my sister and I spent several summers.  There was a huge rice paddy two blocks from the house, and the neighbors had a vegetable garden in a vacant lot on the block.  The place was fairly rural, with cisterns instead of piped sewer lines.  The neighborhood still has some houses from back then, but the rice paddy has been replaced by an elementary school and housing.  The train station (Keisei) looks pretty much the same from the 1970s, but there are a lot of newer buildings surrounding the area.

Last week, I visited the first hobby shop my uncle took me to back in 1970 (Model Center Sato).  My uncle bought me a Tamiya 1/100 B-52 and he put it together for me.  In 1980 I rode my grandfather's bicycle from the house to the shop, where I bought my first bottle of Gunze Mr. Color.

https://flic.kr/p/N5VWXa][/url]Model Center Sato by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

My uncle also took me to a pachinko parlor, despite me being only around 15 years old, and I won enough to get my uncle two cartons of cigarettes, a bunch of chocolate snackies, and enough mad money to pay for all the kits I hauled back.  Yeah, we went to the little window a couple of shops down and had the suspicious looking guy exchange our scripts for cash.  Gotta love Japan!

Glad to have stirred your "natsukashii" memories!  "Don't touch my moustache"! 

Chiba prefecture might not be Tokyo, but it is very beautiful there.  Although I haven't been to Chiba prefecture, I've seen stunning photos that where picturest and I was enamoured by that.  I definately envy you.

 I've been to Hayama, Kamakura my uncles home and Koriyamashi, Fukushima my other uncles home.  Hayama is known as a beach resort.  In the mornings I would look out of my uncles second floor patio and view the silhouette of Mt. Fuji in the distance.  So serene was that.

In Koriyamashi, it was very very rural.  Miles and miles of rice patties would dot the landscape.  For the first time I saw fireflies, caught dojo (A loach type fish), and went on excursions throughout Fukushima.  Although I'm an American, I felt very Japanese being in touch with my ancestry.  

Another place that awed me was my life living in Europe.  As a jazz musician, I got to live in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Zurich.  Living in these cities and walking on and around establishments and buildings thousands of years old humbled me greatly.  I will never forget viewing Hadrians wall.  Such history.  My other fondest memory was visiting the bridges of Operation Market Garden and Ann Frank House.  

I lived only a few blocks from Ann Frank House, Heineken brewery, and Van Mopps Diamond center.  I happened to be there during the Chernobyl accident, Bicentennial of Bastille Day, 200th year death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, fall of the Beriln wall, and the start of the 50th Anniversary of WWII.  I actually got to play as a guest artist at some of these historical events.  I'll never forget that!

When I tell my children of my life they are in awe of what I did.  They can't believe the life I lived.  The most interesting thing for me was meeting all these people that just wanted to find out what America was like.

Being from Honolulu, Hawaii I only studied the Pacific war and did not care for the war in the European theater.  Once I lived in Europe, I engulfed my every being into studying and understanding the war in Europe.  Such history and living and visiting these sites of great battles only made me more in touch with humanity.

Thank you again for the fond memories!  Domo Arigato!

Toshi

P.S. After my many trips to Japan when I was 6 or 8, my grandmother sent me a most memorable gift.  A P-51 Mustang model kit. I don't remember if it was a Hasegawa or a Tamiya.  I want to say it was a Tamiya as the wings had removable machine gun panels to view the ammo belts.  It was beyond my comprehension as all I knew was Revell and Monogram kits during the early 70's.  

Toshi, you have certainly seen and done more things than I!  if you can, you should go to Japan again and see your old stomping grounds.  My best friend went on his honeymoon back in the early 1990s and despite not being able to speak the language, was able to figure out the train system.  He then taught me, as I had always relied on my mother.  Once you learn how to use the trains, you can get almost anywhere.

OK so the fake food kits have been distributed (curry, fried rice, ramen) to my buddies, so I'll post photos if and when they finish them. I got the spaghetti.  I want to replace the paper dish with a real one and perhaps change the wooden fork to stainless steel.

That's because I was young and stupid!  LOL!  I'd love to go back to Japan and visit things like the old stomping grounds.  

Im looking forward to your assembly of the sample/fake foods.  This is a very cool thread!

Toshi

 And just how would you weather that?    Add a fly or two.

Fake plastic model food is amazing, but some of you guys' reminiscences are....profoundly moving. I've been having a bad few days and reading stuff like this brings me out of the darkness. Thank you. 

--Chris

I would imagine airbrushed plastic food would be more controlled. And I've heard hairspray after...????

Chris, glad to have been able to help cheer you up!  Time in Japan will always be part of my fondest memories.  As a kid, it was a fantastic place with unending wonders and surprises.  As an adult, it is still no less amazing.  But now I can go where I will, and with the internet I can find places I didn't even know about.  But you know, on this last trip the crazy hobby shopping took a back seat to visiting with my relatives and just enjoying being there.  Getting older perhaps.

Caveman, sorry, but the shop didn't have flies for sale on the custom accessory rack.  And I gave away all my rubber bugs to a co-worker's son.  The fly didn't look terribly real, but the centipede got me and my co-worker's son into a lot of trouble!    I also got those from Japan, but that is a story for another day.  

Okay, time to hit the thrift shop for a bowl and fork!