Similar to customs around the world, when a baby is born in Japan, relatives and neighbors come to visit and congratulate the family. However, for the past two years, this cherished tradition has been disrupted due to pandemic prevention regulations and social distancing.
Image of a baby printed on a rice bag.
Yet, “in difficult times, creativity shines through,” the pandemic has been a concern for some but an opportunity for others. A man who owns a rice shop in Kitakyushu (near Fukuoka) came up with a “clever” way to profit from tiny grains: stuffing rice into small bags printed with images of babies.
Rice baby sent to relatives so they can hold it like a real newborn.
These bags are affectionately named “rice babies” by the Japanese. They are rice bags printed with images of babies and weigh exactly the same as the child they “replace.” The “rice babies” are sent by the parents of the “real baby” to relatives so they can “see” and “hold” the child.
Mr. Naruo Ono, the owner of Kome no Zoto Yoshimiya rice shop, invented these “rice babies” 14 years ago when his son was born. At that time, some of his family members lived far away and could not visit the newborn as per tradition. This prompted Naruo Ono to think: What could he do to solve this issue?
He came up with the idea of creating rice bags that looked and weighed the same as his son, pasting a photo on them, and sending them to distant relatives so they could “see” and “hold” the baby.
One day, someone saw Naruo’s “rice baby” on the shelf and remarked how interesting it was. In that moment, Naruo realized that his charming rice bags could be marketed. From then on, he began making baby-shaped rice bags for customers across Japan. Later, some merchants also copied his invention.
Each bag of rice is carefully weighed to match the child’s weight.
The rice bags are meticulously weighed to match the child’s weight. Some companies charge one yen per gram, making a 3.5 kg package cost 3,500 yen or approximately 32 USD (equivalent to 730,000 VND).
In fact, Dakigokochi (“rice baby”) has been present in Japan since the early 2000s, but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought it back into the spotlight.
