This Simple Piece Of Sushi Is Really A Complex Model Kit With 366 Parts

By Mikelle Leow, 28 Apr 2021

Image via Syuto / Amazon Japan

Japanese dining etiquette necessitates that you eat an entire piece of sushi in one bite. But it’s going to take you countless bites of whole sushi to finish this one riceball. Somewhere in there, there’s a lesson to be learned.

Fans of realistic food replicas might want to feast their eyes on Tokyo plastic model maker Syuto’s latest kit, innocuous-looking plastic sushi that’s made up of 366 parts.

As far as most eyes can tell, there seem to be only two pieces in this build—so where are the other parts from? Turns out, each grain of rice is an individual fragment with its own frame to snap out of.

Not only does putting the rice together make for an elaborate activity, but the process in creating it was time-consuming too. According to SoraNews24, early iterations of the grains gave off the impression of uncooked rice, so the kit’s creators kept working on them until they emulated the visual “softness” of steamed rice.

For those who are literally watching their carbs, there’s no need to piece every grain of plastic rice together. Syuto is leaving it up to the builder to personalize their sushi, which can be fixed together with a liquid adhesive coating.

For full effect, the sushi kit is packed in a fancy bento box and, presumably, paired with chopsticks.

Available in tuna and salmon toppings and sold on Amazon Japan, each hunk of plastic sushi will require an estimate of 40 to 60 minutes to piece together.

Take your time—because each meal’s worth is priced at ¥1,430 yen (US$13). And, as they say, sushi-making is an art.