Six sweets lined up—souvenirs from last week's Osaka meeting, bought by Tokyo staff. (We manage Palaceside Building, Osaka Mainichi HQ, Midland Square Nagoya, Mainichi Fukuoka Hall, etc.)
Naming and contents are cleverly varied.
First "Osaka Petit Banana" =photo right—clear rival to Tokyo Banana. Sponge with banana and passion-fruit custard
inside. Next Harry Potter cookies =photo left top—USJ goods; a colleague stayed the weekend on personal time. Each cookie bears a logo =photo left bottom.
Osaka caramel pudding cake, Kobe petit financier, Kobe cafe chocolate—respectively,
well, decent enough.
Finally photo right sweets. Langue de chat means "cat's tongue"—square versions count in Japan. Hokkaido's "Shiroi Koibito"
is a famous langue de chat with white chocolate filling.
This gift uses the same style—heart "KOIBITO" on the bag suggests "Shiroi Koibito." Years ago Yoshimoto parodied with "Omoshiroi Koibito" and stopped after a lawsuit. Copy again??
The box shows the official name "Osaka no Koibito"
.
Something smells off—change the box, same inside anywhere. Search shows Osaka, Tsutenkaku, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, Wakayama versions =photo bottom. Osaka copy "Meccha suki yanen"; Kyoto "Erō suki dose"; Kobe "Suki ya yūtō." Kyoto uses matcha cream.
Also "Botchan" (Dogo), "Heike" (Itsukushima), "Udon" (Kagawa)—unique names nationwide. Similar box designs; lined up, quite a sight.
