Shoyu-tai - [FoodLore]

Shoyu-tai - [Foodlore | Charm] - 醤油鯛 aka: 魚型たれびん, "ランチャーム" (Rancharm)

• About: A Soy-sauce-filled-snapper! - a tasty condiment for any meal.- These fish shaped squeeze-bottles are a common sight at festivals, food stalls & often found in bento boxes! -

• History: The cute packets where first invented by ASAHI SOGYO co. in Nishinari-ku, Osaka City, 1954 by the company's founder Teruo Watanabe; The bottles where made of plastic (polyethylene) with the intent to be cheaper than glass or ceramics to produce; (as well as easy to store & convenient to squeeze.) they where marketed as early as 1955 as ランチャーム "Rancharm" and the company took off from there...  Of course, multiple other companies soon copied their homework and today you can find dozens of different branded fish (among other animals & fish) shaped plastic fish sauce bottles. - Sadly, these tiny packets are mostly made for single use & thus contribute to waste/pollution. (Ironically they are quite dangerous to sea-life, similar to plastic drinking straws.) 

[Photo of Founder Teruo Wantanbe; via the (archived) website]

[The iconic og "rancharm" branded shoyu-tai]

I digress, Never the less; these bottles themselves are viewed as something somewhat nostalgic and as such, today and like other odd or nostalgic things; the containers do have their fans; some like to collect them! - Case in point: in 2012; Yoshihisa Sawada. – (an expert in the taxonomy of Japanese insects) published "Shoyudai" a taxonomic classification of the fish bottles, classifying them into six families, 21 genera and finding 76 unique species! - (a man after my own heart, he also briefly explores what might have inspired each design.)

• [3 variants via Wikicommons] •

See also: Kibuna, Taiyaki

[Art sticker by samkalensky part of my food-lore & charm collections!]