“Panda no Unko (panda poops)” fugashi snacks introduced by a souvenir shop inside JR Ueno Station (in Taito ward, Tokyo)
TOKYO, March 28 – Matcha green-tea-flavored fun snack introduced this month by a souvenir shop inside JR Ueno Station in Taito ward, Tokyo, is already enjoying huge popularity today. The name of the goody is, believe or not, “Panda no Unko” which means panda poops in Japanese.
The new tidbit made of dried wheat gluten is original product created after the birth of Shan Shan (or Xiang Xiang in Chinese), a giant panda cub, at the Ueno Zoo in June last year. The shop, Ueno Land, asked one traditional wheat gluten food manufacturer in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Matsuo, to make this amusing product that resembles a poop of a panda cub. Each piece comes in a bite-size chunk of 5 to 6 centimeters in diameter and is covered in authentic Matcha green tea powder from Kyoto.
Bags containing 80 grams were sold for the first time on March 16 at 594 yen per bag, and all 300 bags were gone in only three days. So the shop prepared additional 1,000 bags on March 26.