Hatsune Miku Piapro Food Products
Hatsune Miku is not a stranger to advertising figurines such as Nendoroids and figmas, but she has also been involved with many food collaborations. Crypton Future Media works with many well-known Japanese food and beverage companies to advertise her and many often sell out shortly after sales commence.
Family Mart Food Collaborations
Until about 2016, Hatsune Miku was a part of seasonal campaigns with Family Mart, a popular convenience store, which was titled Hatsune Miku Loves Family Mart. During the campaigns, Hatsune Miku-themed toys were sold but the most popular items were the foods that featured Miku.
During the Spring collaboration, Miku was advertised on wafer biscuits (Mikkuriman Chocolate Wafers), Evian water, strawberry Mont Blanc with sweet bean jam rice cakes, sakura cherry blossom-shaped strawberry jam and cream-filled buns, jello, and candies titled Sakura no Ame which is a wordplay as the term Ame in Japanese can mean "rain" or "candy" depending on which kanji character is used.
Perhaps the most popular food item was a hot meat-filled bun in the shape of Hatsune Miku which was lovingly referred to as Miku-man, yet another wordplay as nikuman means "meat bun".
Instant yakisoba producer, Peyoung, also had a collaboration with Miku with a range of Miku-branded yakisoba which was only available at Family Mart convenience stores. The items would prove immensely successful and stocks for most of the stores would run completely empty within days. Many fans felt upset that they could not try the yakisoba, which retailed at approximately 230 yen per pack, because other fans had bought the entire supply in a single purchase since item limits were not enforced.
Much of the yakisoba appeared on auction websites selling for more than quadruple the originally set price which led to Family Mart denouncing the practice in a statement on their website.
Regular Seasonal Foods
Hatsune Miku will often feature on various other food items that are sold in supermarkets all over Japan. Some of these include chocolate chip scones (distributed by Movic Inc), Trick or Treat chocolate sets (Eternorecit Inc), jelly bean boxes (Eternorecit Inc), and hand-made Haskap Berry jams (Great Sky Art Inc).
Event Foods
At officially-sanctioned events, there are food stalls that feature Miku and the other Crypton-based Vocaloids-style foods, too. Some of the food items that have been released at Hatsune Miku Magical Mirai include Japanese curry with leeks (Miku's character item), orange-flavored sodas, tuna with rice, popcorn, and ice creams. While not incredibly popular among fans who usually bring food or snacks into the venue (but not to the concert itself), many spend a good amount of time and money to try out the new flavors for that event.
Furthermore, fans tend to favor bite-sized snacks that have Miku printed on them than full meals as it is easier to eat a snack while walking to your destination instead of trying to eat a big bowl of Japanese curry.
Snow Miku events are very popular among fans as there will be ramen available as well as Hello Kitty collaborated candies and chewing gums.
Frequently Available Foods
The following list, while not exhausting, shows a variety of foods that had been released throughout 2019 but can still be found in various stores.
- Vocaloid Tea Caddy, distributed by Movic Inc., for sale on November 1st
- Vocaloid Original Blend Tea, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on October 25th
- Vocaloid Lollipops (comes with one of six different types of stickers), distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on October 25th
- Hatsune Miku Yatsuhashi, distributed by Crocodile Inc., for sale on September 21st
- Hatsune Miku Chokabuki Rice Crackers Dwango User Entertainment Inc., for sale on April 27th
- Vocaloid Tea, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on March 15th
- Vocaloid Chocolate Set, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on March 15th
- Hatsune Miku Jellybean Box, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on March 15th
Inc., for sale on February 4th - Megurine Luka Happy Birthday Set Pink Sweets Set, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on January 25th
- Megurine Luka Chocolate Wafers, distributed by Eternorecit Inc., for sale on January 25th
- Hatsune Miku Chocolate Box, distributed by Morozoff Ltd., for sale on January 10th
- Hatsune Miku x Megurine Luka Chocolate Box, distributed by Morozoff Ltd., for sale on January 10th