You possibly can’t go to Tokyo with out seeing them. These pale-yellow containers of individually wrapped bite-size desserts are emblazoned with photos of the capital’s most well-known vacationer sights and, typically, with a few of Japan’s most recognizable animated characters.
Yearly, lots of of hundreds of gold-ribbon-wrapped packages of Tokyo Banana are bought across the Japanese capital’s transportation hubs and vacationer districts and branded as town’s official snack.
However what does Tokyo Banana truly must do with Tokyo, a metropolis that doesn’t have any banana timber?
In contrast to many Japanese treats, that are made with substances native to varied areas and related with millennia-long manufacturing traditions (suppose udon noodles, inexperienced tea, and yuzu candies), Tokyo Banana was purely born out of capitalism.
Within the twentieth century, as Tokyo grew into the world’s largest metropolis and opened to vacationers from all over the world, it nonetheless didn’t have many traditions to name its personal. There wasn’t one standout meals or drink product that was distinctive to Tokyo or that had centuries of carefully-tended historical past to acknowledge.
Examine that with Kyoto, which was Japan’s capital from the eighth to nineteenth centuries: one restaurant has been making soba noodles out of regionally grown buckwheat since 1702. Japan can also be dwelling to the world’s oldest hotel, a sizzling springs resort that opened to company in 705.
Japanese snack producer Grapestone noticed a vacuum there and determined to make a Tokyo-centric product that may very well be marketed as an area specialty.
“Tokyo is the place the place numerous folks come from throughout Japan and it turns into a hometown for them,” a Grapestone consultant tells CNN.
“We determined to invent a Tokyo memento with the theme which all Japanese folks will really feel acquainted and nostalgic about. Bananas are the style of high-end merchandise or imported items for older folks. For youthful folks, it’s the style of enjoyable reminiscences bringing (bananas) on subject journeys.”
The end result was banana-shaped treats which can be fluffy on the surface and crammed with banana-flavored cream.
Or, as Tokyo-based tour information Katie Thompson places it, a “fancy Twinkie.”
Tokyo Banana is an ideal instance of omiyage, a Japanese custom by which individuals who have not too long ago traveled deliver presents — often edible ones — again to their mates, households and colleagues.
Like so many Japanese customs, there are nuances to picking and shopping for the right omiyage.
They’re extra than simply souvenirs. In contrast to within the West, the place a returning traveler would possibly deliver again a magnet or T-shirt for a cherished one, omiyage is sort of at all times one thing to eat or drink that should be consumed quickly after the customer’s return.
By that logic, the presents are often meals merchandise that solely come from one area, or which can be recognized for being significantly good there – examples embrace salt from the sunny islands of Okinawa, conventional matcha from Kyoto, and apple treats from Aomori prefecture in Japan’s north.
However whereas omiyage could be a Japanese custom, Tokyo Banana’s largest market is overseas vacationers, not locals, a transfer that the corporate says was intentional. Grapestone tells CNN that the corporate was provided retail house at Haneda Airport within the Nineties, which prompted them to invent Tokyo Banana within the first place.
With its Tokyo branding and the product’s title clearly written in English, Tokyo Banana shortly grew to become related to its namesake metropolis.
Jeff Lui, a Canadian dwelling in Japan, thinks that Tokyo Banana is brilliantly marketed towards worldwide vacationers.
“You’re nearly obligated to purchase this omiyage on your mates again dwelling. It’s type of saying, ‘Hey, I used to be pondering of you proper whereas I used to be there, and right here’s this factor that I do know you’ll use.’”
However on social media, it’s a distinct story.
TikTokers from outdoors of Japan make a beeline for the treats once they arrive in Tokyo. Some showcase the uncommon flavors they’ve snagged, whereas others give recommendations on which of them to deliver again as presents for household. And similar to the American Twinkie, they’re as enjoyable to smush as they’re to eat.
Creator Eat With Adrian’s review of Tokyo Banana has gotten about 260,000 views on TikTok, with commenters chiming in to say how a lot they need to purchase some for themselves.
Thompson, who has been dwelling in Japan for about eight years, admits that Tokyo Bananas usually are not her private go-to snack.
“I’m not the largest fan. I discover the within to be fairly synthetic tasting. Banana doesn’t lend itself very properly into turning into a candy custard or sweet.”
Though she says mates and kin again in her native US have requested about Tokyo Banana, she doesn’t purchase it for them.
“My go-to, if I’m touring internationally, I choose up sugar butter sand timber. It has a foolish title, but it surely’s truly a tasty cookie as properly.” Coincidentally, the cookies are additionally a Grapestone product.
Lui agrees that Tokyo Banana isn’t one thing he picks up and eats himself, however he offers with numerous questions from family members in his native Canada once they go to.
“Each time somebody from Toronto comes (to Japan) they’re like, ‘Oh, like I noticed this Tokyo Banana factor, and I purchased a number of containers to deliver again dwelling.’” On his web site Tokyo Chase, Lui evaluations different Japanese snacks and tries to steer folks in several instructions once they’re shopping for foodie souvenirs, particularly if they’re repeat guests to Japan who need to dig just a little deeper.
Lately, Tokyo Banana has made an effort to change into extra local-friendly.
Grapestone periodically launches new flavors, like lemon, sakura or honey. To create a buzz, sure merchandise will solely be obtainable for buy at one particular outlet, like its store within the trendy Ginza neighborhood.
The model has collaborated with well-liked homegrown characters like Pikachu, Chiikawa, Hello Kitty and Doraemon. And, in fact, there’s additionally a Tokyo Banana-flavored Equipment Kat.
In 2022, Tokyo Banana opened a flagship retailer inside Tokyo Station. To rejoice, they tried out a savory product, a spin on a well-liked Japanese curry bread made with “pork and beef simmered with onions, heavy cream and banana puree.”
Grapestone gained’t reveal precisely what number of merchandise they promote in a yr, however on their web site it says that Tokyo Banana is the most well-liked meals memento in Japan’s capital.
The model tells CNN that should you laid out each single Tokyo Banana bought in a yr, the tiny desserts would attain throughout the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to the USA.
Normally, although, they journey by air.
EDITOR’S NOTE: CNN’s Soyon Nishioka contributed reporting.