Rubik's Cube Featuring Aomori Apple Varieties Debuts Nationwide; Challenging Puzzles Already Rolling off Shelves
An Aomorikku Cube puzzle toy
Aomorikku Cube, Rubik's Cube puzzles designed with apple skin coloration, sales have begun outside Aomori Prefecture. Instead of solid colors, each side of the cube is patterned on a different variety of apple produced in the prefecture.
The Aomori prefectural government sold the toys in the prefecture from autumn last year, quickly selling out.
Many people voiced their desire to buy the puzzle, so the prefectural government has begun selling them again to promote apples, a prefectural specialty product.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of apple tree planting in the prefecture.
When the Aomorikku Cube is solved, each surface shows an image patterned after a different apple variety. The designs are: Fuji, Jonagold, Sekai-ichi, Kogyoku, Chiyuki and Mutsu.
All of them are red and look very similar. People need to align the pieces of each surface while paying attention to features of the apple varieties, making it very challenging.
In October last year, the toys began to be sold in stores at 11 locations in the prefecture.
They caught on right away and the initial run of 1,000 toys sold out in about 2 months.
According to the prefectural government's tourism policy division, many people from inside and outside of the prefecture voiced a desire to buy them even after they initially sold out.
The prefectural government decided to sell the toys again starting May 1, this time selling them outside the prefecture as well.
In Aomori prefecture, the toys are available in multiple locations, including a store in Misawa Airport. Outside the prefecture, such retailers as Aomori Hokusaikan Tokyo Store, the prefecture's antenna shop in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, and A La Ringo Kobe Factory Shop in Hyogo Ward, Kobe, sell them.
They sell for ¥3,300 each, including tax. By May 23, some shops reported their stock of the toys was low.
An official of the prefectural government's tourism policy division said, 'We want people to become familiar with the features of apple varieties and hope the toys will prompt them to visit the prefecture to try the apples for themselves.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metropolis Japan
17-07-2025
- Metropolis Japan
Hokusai to Pocari Sweat: Japanese Aesthetic of 'Transparency'
"Toumeikan" is symbolized by water and made visible by the color blue By What is Toumeikan? These are compliments in Japanese—odd ones, maybe. Toumeikan (透明感), directly translated as 'sense of transparency,' is a common phrase used to praise someone's… well, transparent beauty. Transparent, like water: clear, cool, fresh, light, reflective and pure. But what exactly does it mean to look transparent? There is a common Japanese phrase, mizu-moshitataru ii otoko —literally, 'a man so handsome, water drips from him' (more commonly, though not exclusively, used for men). Originally describing 'hot' kabuki actors in the Edo period, it evokes the image of youthful and dewy-skinned beauty. Today, it's used more broadly to describe fresh-faced heartthrobs, but the water imagery lingers. Water and toumeikan are aesthetic ideals in Japan, not only for the way you look but also for art and its philosophy. This topic, after all, is as deep as the Mariana Trench. To wade into why water and toumeikan carry such weight in Japanese aesthetic ideals, we have to talk about Pocari Sweat ads, vaporwave, Shinto rituals and ukiyo-e. Toumeikan in a Bottle? The Pocari Sweat Aesthetic Cosmetic brands might tell you that toumeikan is about sheer makeup and luminous skin. Skin so dewy it could be described as mizu-moshitataru, like freshly picked fruits still beaded with moisture. Or they might claim it can be achieved by incorporating cool-toned colors like blue. But toumeikan isn't just about appearance. It's a funiki, a vibe, an aura, an atmosphere. A sense of freshness and purity, like water itself. When I try to explain the aesthetic ideal of toumeikan, I often point to an unlikely cultural symbol: Pocari Sweat. Yes, the electrolyte drink. Pocari Sweat commercials are widely recognized in Japan as embodying toumeikan, and have developed something of a cult following. Often filmed with soft, blue Fuji-film hues, they feature wind, light and lots of water, usually against a backdrop of high school students running on rooftops, drinking Pocari after practice or staring into the blue sky. It's a visual shorthand for seishun —a word that literally means 'blue spring,' but culturally refers to the period and feeling of youth. For many English speakers, the word 'sweat' on a drink label can feel off-putting. However, in this seishun imagery, they run, they sweat, but it's not sticky or gross. It is a kind of refreshing sweat that runs down your cheeks like morning dew. As the phrase mizu-mo-shitataru suggests, it's a poetic compliment. The actors in these commercials are almost always fresh-faced newcomers—so much so that landing a Pocari ad is seen as a kind of a rite of passage for rising stars, known in Japanese as touryumon, a term drawn from the Chinese legend of koi that swim upstream and leap over a waterfall to become dragons. It might seem strange for an electrolyte drink to carry this much aesthetic weight. A Western equivalent might be Fiji Water in vaporware, a retro-futurist internet aesthetic rooted in 80s and 90s remix culture, with heavy influence from Japanese media like city pop and anime. Fiji Water became an unexpected 'water' icon, appearing alongside Roman busts, Windows 95 logos and Japanese text. Vaporwave also uses water imagery for its surreal and relaxing feel: tropical pools, mall fountains, light reflecting on smooth surfaces. Interestingly, since the genre often repurposes Japanese ads and packaging, Pocari Sweat has also appeared in vaporware. Originally launched in the 1980s, Pocari Sweat struggled at first. However, the brand invested heavily in advertising, not just to promote the product name or ingredients; but to sell a sekaikan: a visual world and mood, much like a perfume ad. This aesthetic vision made waves, entering the high-speed landscape of Japan's bubble economy to become a Japanese summer staple. A distilled memory of 80s and 90s youth, summer humidity and glistening blue skies. The Pocari girl, mid-run, cheeks shimmering with sweat, settled into the collective aesthetic subconscious, just as Coca-Cola became a symbol of vintage Americana. Beyond its hydrating, watery freshness, Pocari Sweat became an icon of Japanese youth and the 'good old days,' serving as a reference point for toumeikan in both the domestic imagery of seishun and the Western internet's borrowed nostalgia. And in Japan, a drink bottle becoming a style accessory isn't as strange as it sounds. At one point, girls began repurposing Evian bottle labels as smartphone case inserts—not for hydration, but for their clear, watery funiki. Shinto Purity and the Japanese Aesthetic of Water Touimeikan, water and Japanese aesthetics go deep into history, far beyond the bubble era of the 1980s and 90s. It goes way back. In Shinto, the indigenous faith of Japan, water plays a central role. After all, Shinto is a religion of purity. It teaches that humans are born 'pure,' and that kegare (impurity) is something picked up through daily life, just like dust and dirt you collect on your body and clothes as you go about your day outside. Fortunately, impurity isn't permanent. Wash it off, and you return to your pure state. At the entrance of every shrine, visitors perform a ritual hand-washing at the chozuya, a stone basin filled with flowing water. It's a quiet, reflective act meant to cleanse the hands and mouth, washing away spiritual impurities before approaching the divine. In addition to purity, Shinto, like many animistic beliefs, emphasizes nature and living in harmony with powerful natural forces. Flowing water, rivers and waterfalls are especially sacred, believed to cleanse both body and spirit. Because purification and nature go hand in hand, some practitioners continue to perform takigyo today, standing beneath a waterfall to wash away spiritual impurities. Clear water is pure in itself, and capable of purifying other things. Of course, Gen Zs slipping Evian bottle labels into their phone cases probably aren't thinking about waterfall purification rituals. But Shinto values do seep into everyday life and what we consider 'ordinary' Japanese culture. The obsessive handwashing and gargling many Japanese kids are taught from an early age— the idea that you do this combo the moment you come home, before you touch anything or… breathe? The preference for nighttime bathing, to wash off the outside world's kegare before entering the sacred space of the home? All of it stems from, or is at least influenced by, Shinto. So it's no surprise that visual ideals would flow with the same tide. In a culture where water purifies, transparency becomes beauty. Water is a visualization of purity, and toumeikan is an articulation of its aesthetic appeal. Visualizing Water in Art Through Blue Water represents purity, but it also reflects Japan's favorite philosophy: impermanence. It's fluid, never still. And it constantly transforms: into ice, snow and vapor, surrounding our lives in countless forms, just as it does around the world. Water can also be powerful. The tsunami, a terrifying force of nature, has been etched into Japanese memory for centuries, passed down through generations as both fear and a lesson. And yet, the same combination of water and geological activity gave rise to one of Japan's greatest gifts: the onsen. Unsurprisingly, water appears again and again in Japanese art. The most internationally recognized ukiyo-e print, Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, has become an icon of Japanese visual culture. This iconic work might never have existed without the then newly invented color: bero-ai (lit. Berlin Indigo), also known in English as Prussian blue. This synthetic dye, imported from Prussia via the Dutch in the 1780s, changed ukiyo-e forever. Before this, ukiyo-e artists used a cultivar of Asiatic dayflower for blue, but it faded quickly and turned yellow over time. The more stable Japanese indigo dried down muted, dark, and warm-toned—lacking clarity—and its gritty texture made it unsuitable for smooth gradients. Bero-ai, on the other hand, was cool-toned, vibrant and worked like a miracle. It was water-soluble, making it ideal for bokashi-zuri (a gradient shading technique). Even when dry, it retained luminosity and clarity. For the first time, artists could render water with brightness and depth—the toumeikan they so often pursued. The ripple effect of this blue craze created a new trend: aizuri-e, prints created entirely in shades of Prussian blue. By layering and using noutan (gradations of light and dark), artists could express depth and transparency with a single color. The same bold blue was an unusual choice for Pocari Sweat at the time, as blue wasn't considered appetizing for food or drink. Much like Hokusai choosing Prussian blue to evoke the depth of the ocean, Pocari Sweat embraced the association with water and refreshment. While transparency isn't a color, you can visualize the lack thereof. Maybe this has all been a roundabout way of saying, 'water and toumeikan are aesthetic ideals in Japan,' but still waters do run deep. From the ukiyo-e waves to the dew-like sweat in a Pocari ad, toumeikan isn't something you can bottle. But we keep finding new ways to show what it feels like.
Yomiuri Shimbun
26-05-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Rubik's Cube Featuring Aomori Apple Varieties Debuts Nationwide; Challenging Puzzles Already Rolling off Shelves
Courtesy of the Aomori prefectural government An Aomorikku Cube puzzle toy Aomorikku Cube, Rubik's Cube puzzles designed with apple skin coloration, sales have begun outside Aomori Prefecture. Instead of solid colors, each side of the cube is patterned on a different variety of apple produced in the prefecture. The Aomori prefectural government sold the toys in the prefecture from autumn last year, quickly selling out. Many people voiced their desire to buy the puzzle, so the prefectural government has begun selling them again to promote apples, a prefectural specialty product. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of apple tree planting in the prefecture. When the Aomorikku Cube is solved, each surface shows an image patterned after a different apple variety. The designs are: Fuji, Jonagold, Sekai-ichi, Kogyoku, Chiyuki and Mutsu. All of them are red and look very similar. People need to align the pieces of each surface while paying attention to features of the apple varieties, making it very challenging. In October last year, the toys began to be sold in stores at 11 locations in the prefecture. They caught on right away and the initial run of 1,000 toys sold out in about 2 months. According to the prefectural government's tourism policy division, many people from inside and outside of the prefecture voiced a desire to buy them even after they initially sold out. The prefectural government decided to sell the toys again starting May 1, this time selling them outside the prefecture as well. In Aomori prefecture, the toys are available in multiple locations, including a store in Misawa Airport. Outside the prefecture, such retailers as Aomori Hokusaikan Tokyo Store, the prefecture's antenna shop in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, and A La Ringo Kobe Factory Shop in Hyogo Ward, Kobe, sell them. They sell for ¥3,300 each, including tax. By May 23, some shops reported their stock of the toys was low. An official of the prefectural government's tourism policy division said, 'We want people to become familiar with the features of apple varieties and hope the toys will prompt them to visit the prefecture to try the apples for themselves.'
Asahi Shimbun
03-05-2025
- Asahi Shimbun
Rintaro wins top prize at Tezuka Osamu manga awards
An illustration drawn by Rintaro to mark his winning of the Manga Grand Prix at the 29th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, left, and the cover illustration for his winning title, 'Ichi-byo Nijuyon-koma no Boku no Jinsei' (Provided by Rintaro and Kawade Shobo Shinsha Ltd.) 'Ichi-byo Nijuyon-koma no Boku no Jinsei' (My life at 24 frames per second), an autobiographical manga by famed anime director Rintaro, won the Manga Grand Prix at the 29th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun Co., the competition honors 'Astro Boy' creator Osamu Tezuka and the indelible mark he left on Japan's manga culture. The logo of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize featuring Atom, the main character of 'Astro Boy' ((c) Tezuka Productions) The Originality Prize, given for fresh talent and novel modes of expression, went to Shiho Kido, who authored 'When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom.' The Short Story Prize was given to Shunji Enomoto's 'The Kinks.' The Asahi Special Prize went to the Yokote City Masuda Manga Art Foundation, a general incorporated association that operates the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum in Yokote, Akita Prefecture. The awards ceremony will be held at the leading daily's Tokyo head office in the Tsukiji area on June 5. Each winner will receive a bronze statuette. The winner of the Manga Grand Prix will also take home a 2-million-yen ($14,000) prize, while the Originality, Short Story and Asahi Special Prize winners will each receive 1 million yen. Manga titles published or released in Japan in 2024 were eligible for the awards. Rintaro is an anime director who has movies such as 'Galaxy Express 999,' 'Genma Taisen (Harmagedon)' and 'Metropolis' under his belt. After working on a Japan-France joint project, he was approached to make an autobiographical anime in the European country. After six years in the making, it came to fruition as a manga originally released by a publisher in the French-speaking world under the title of 'Ma Vie en 24 Images par Second' (My life at 24 frames per second). The Japanese edition was published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha Ltd. 'I decided to take on the project thinking that nothing could scare me, but when I started working on it, I remembered various scenes of my life like a revolving lantern of memories,' Rintaro said. 'It was a fun experience.' After starting out as an animator, Rintaro made a career switch to become a director while working on 'Astro Boy,' Japan's first animated TV series, which aired in 1963 and featured a robot boy named Atom. 'Mr. Tezuka was a great manga artist, but for me, he was the chief who worked together with staff members on 'Astro Boy' without sleep,' he recalled. 'When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom' is Kido's first series published by Kodansha Ltd. It portrays creators of 'art brut' (raw art), or art made outside the mainstream forms of expression, and their supporters through a peculiar relationship between two elementary school pupils, one being a model student and the other an eccentric one. Also released by Kodansha, 'The Kinks' is the first family-centered comedy series for Enomoto, whose works are filled with 'erotic, grotesque and nonsensical' elements. The Yokote City Masuda Manga Art Foundation is among the first to conserve manga manuscripts to pass down the manga culture to future generations. Opening in 1995, the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum currently houses more than 480,000 original drawings. (This story was written by Atsushi Ohara and Takumi Terui.)
