Home Society & Culture Rice Cracker Watches, A Square Kirby, a Disney Onsen & More: 7 Japanese April Fools’ Day Jokes (2019 Edition)

Rice Cracker Watches, A Square Kirby, a Disney Onsen & More: 7 Japanese April Fools’ Day Jokes (2019 Edition)

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With all the excitement surrounding the April 1st press conference in which the name of Japan’s new Imperial era was announced–it’s going to be called Reiwa by the way–this year’s April Fools’ Day was definitely a bit overshadowed. However, just like every year, a long list of Japanese companies put out April Fools’ Day jokes in hopes of getting a little attention online. Being that there’s so many–and many of them don’t translate well into English for various reasons–here’s a quick roundup of seven of these 2019 Japanese April Fools’ Day stunts (in no particular order).

Bone Only KFC

This year Kentucky Fried Chicken said they would be offering a bucket of just chicken bones with no meat. This is perfect for anyone who would rather go on an all calcium diet than an all protein diet.

Square Kirby

Everybody knows that the beloved Nintendo character Kirby is round. However, this year it was announced on Kirby’s Twitter account that the cute pink puffball would be turned into a cube. Yep, Kirby with corners. Not quite as cute as the classic corner-less Kirby everyone loves.

Typing by Bending Spoons

In a move inspired by Uri Geller’s classic silverware trick, Google Japan announced a new spoon-based method of inputting text. Rather than typing the old-fashioned way on your phone Google Japan said that their new method would allow people to type by bending a spoon (and other items). What you type is determined by how much you bend your spoon. Yeah, this is a particularly strange one.

Breakfast Water

Japanese water brand I LOHAS joined in on the April Fools’ Day fun by announcing the release of a new line of flavored breakfast waters. For those who like Western-style breakfast there’s water flavored like bread. And for those who prefer Japanese-style breakfast, there’s water that tastes like rice. Best of all, each bottle of this breakfast water will give you the same amount of energy you would get from eating a regular meal.

Fossilized Croissant

Although not a Japanese company, the French Embassy in Japan also got in on the fun by announcing that a fossil of a croissant dating some 20,000 years back to the Paleolithic era was found in the Southwest of France.

Tokyo Disney Gets an Onsen?

Onsen are of course, Japan’s famous and very popular hot springs. Although found throughout much of Japan, you won’t find onsen on the grounds of Tokyo Disney. This year Tokyo Disney announced the creation of a Disney-style onsen at Tokyo DisneySea. Adding an onsen to Tokyo Disney actually seems like the kind of thing a whole lot of people would support, so who knows? Maybe some version of this might happen in the not too distant future

Rice Cracker Watch

On April Fools’ Day 2018 the Japanese watch maker Seiko announced that they had created a line of high end watches specifically designed for ninjas. This year, they announced the creation of a senbei rice cracker wristwatch.

Behold the Presage

Like any fine watch, these rice cracker watches are also made by hand–albeit in a very different process.

The watchmaker taste-testing his creation

The numerals for example are all nori (seaweed) and placed painstakingly by hand.

Carefully placing the nori numerals

If you’re a fan of wagashi (Japanese snacks), seeing this watch will just make you hungry. Check out the video below.

Still want more Japanese April Fools’ Day silliness? Then click here.

Source: Netlab
Images: Seiko Presage 煎餅ダイヤルモデル (Official Seiko Watch Japan YouTube Channel)

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