Truly tasteless: Japan's plastic food artists get creative

From the "leaning tower of pizza" to a fish slicing and cooking itself and a dragon emerging from a dragon fruit, Japanese artisans' quirky plastic food sculptures are on display this week at an exhibition hosted by Japan's Iwasaki Group in Tokyo.

The models are made with the same painstaking detail as the rock-solid noodle soups and crispy-looking plastic snacks that have long been displayed outside Japanese restaurants where they are called "shokuhin sampuru", or "sample food products".

Sampuru are common outside ramen shops and family restaurants across Japan a century after stores began using wax models to advertise their menu to a growing middle class.

"Normally we have to follow orders from clients. We take their views on board when we're making items," says plastic food artist Shinichiro Hatasa, 57.

But when dreaming up fun designs, "you can use your imagination. How it ends up is totally up to you," says Hatasa. For the exhibition, Hatasa crafted an ear of corn leisurely sunbathing on a beach.

Other creations on display included a deep-fried shrimp with four breaded legs roaming like a tiger on a mountain of shredded cabbage and a Tetris game made of chicken.

A Japanese breakfast dish of fermented soybeans called natto appeared to spiral in the air, resembling a powerful cyclone - nicknamed, naturally, a "nattornado".

Factory head Hiroaki Miyazawa checking a finished plastic food sample at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.

Around 60 sculptures were on display, some silly but others designed to showcase the artists' formidable skills.

"They are not real, but they look so real. It's wonderful," says an exhibition attendee Reiko Ichimaru.

All the models were handmade by specialists at Iwasaki Group, Japan's leading maker of "sampuru", which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

At an Iwasaki factory in Yokohama near Tokyo, artisans first take moulds of ingredients from actual meals cooked by the firm's restaurant clients.

Then they begin the meticulous work of decorating the samples to look as realistic as possible, from moisture droplets on chilled glass to subtle bruises on a fruit's surface.

A worker applying finishing touches on his plastic food sculpture for an exhibition, at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.

Food samples in preparation for an exhibition hosted by Japan's Iwasaki Group in Tokyo.

Fake food is a multi-million-dollar market in Japan, but sampuru production has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which reduced demand for dining out.

Sampuru makers hope more tourists will soon be allowed into the country to boost the restaurant industry, but they are also putting their unique skills to use elsewhere.

At the exhibition, the more original offerings are delighting children and adults alike. "I think the number of restaurants using plastic food displays is decreasing," says Yutaka Nishio, 52. "It's interesting to preserve this as art. It's really great."

Plastic food samples in preparation for an exhibition hosted by Japan's Iwasaki Group in Tokyo.

Plastic food samples before colouring at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.

Plastic food samples in preparation for an exhibition hosted by Japan's Iwasaki Group in Tokyo.