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

Posted on April 2, 2019

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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.

／
待望の新発売！#骨だけケンタッキー
＼
皆様からのご要望にお答えして、#オリジナルチキンの骨が登場🍗
圧力釜で揚げたチキンから骨をていねいに取り除きました❕
鍋に🍲ラーメンに🍜使い方は色々😊💓

★単品➡https://t.co/XwWMuaFYh7
★バーレル➡https://t.co/pG1ImGN5O0 #エイプリルフール pic.twitter.com/TQEJMhd8dH

— ケンタッキーフライドチキン (@KFC_jp) March 31, 2019

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.

だ、大ニュースっ！！
なんと！本日からカービィさんのかたちが「しかく」になりますっ！
どうして四角くなっちゃったんでしょうか…？われわれもリンク先をチェックしなければ～！
四角いカービィさんからも目がはなせませんっ！！#エイプリルフール #四角いカービィ https://t.co/Ei8jo068Ae pic.twitter.com/u0k5sfeX05

— 星のカービィ (@Kirby_JP) March 31, 2019

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.

【#いろはす朝食ぱんとごはん新登場！】
忙しい朝にい･ろ･は･すからの新提案！
1食に必要なエネルギーを摂取できるフレーバーウォーターが本日新発売！

選べる2つの味わいも嬉しいポイントで･すね♪#飲む朝食 #エイプリルフール pic.twitter.com/W8XVyK0tcH

— い･ろ･は･す (@ILOHAS) March 31, 2019

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.

日仏🇫🇷🇯🇵の共同研究チームがフランス南西部でクロワッサン🥐の化石を発見しました！フランスの朝食に欠かせないクロワッサンですが、この発見により、今から２万年前の後期旧石器時代にはすでに現在のフランスにあたる地域で食べられていたことが明らかになりました。 pic.twitter.com/yV6hphqFJ3

— フランス大使館 (@ambafrancejp_jp) March 31, 2019

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.