[Sunday Culture] Viral "Bungeoppang Toy" on SNS... The Secret Behind Its Sad Song

A Fish-Shaped Pastry’s Escape from Routine
How a 1975 Children’s Song Became an Anthem for Office Workers and Topped the Oricon Chart

Have you ever seen a video of a fish-shaped pastry (Bungeoppang) placed on a griddle, moving its tail while singing a melancholic Japanese song? Recently, a video titled "Strange Japanese Toy" has gone viral on Korean social media (SNS).

The toy moves its tail and lifts its head in time with the song, and the mechanical sounds add to its bizarre effect, prompting some to call it grotesque. Reactions have ranged from, "Who comes up with toys like this?" to, "I want to buy that toy too-where can I find it?"

Particularly, there has been much curiosity about the lyrics of the song sung so soulfully by the fish-shaped pastry. Today, we bring you the story behind the Japanese children's song "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun" ("Swim! Taiyaki-kun"), which has brought laughter to Korean SNS users.

Toy from the video "Strange Japanese Toys." (Photo by Raight Channel)

"Mainichi mainichi bokura wa teppan no ue de yakarete iya ni nacchau yo." ("Every day, every day, we are grilled on the griddle, and we're getting tired of it.")

This is the opening line of the song sung by the fish-shaped pastry. Although sung in a low voice, this song is actually a children's song released in 1976. One notable feature is that the lyrics are written entirely in hiragana, with no kanji, so even children can read them. The song begins with the lyrics, "Every day, every day, we are getting tired of being grilled on the griddle."

To summarize the story of the lyrics: The fish-shaped pastry, tired of being grilled on the griddle, fights with the shop owner and escapes to the sea.

No longer being grilled every day, the fish-shaped pastry is thrilled by the sea and the newfound sense of freedom. Coral waves hello, and it swims to its heart's content. Occasionally, it is chased by a shark near a sunken ship, but overall, it spends its days happily.

However, since the only thing inside the pastry is sweet red bean paste, it eventually becomes hungry and doesn't know what to do. After drinking only seawater and swelling up, it needs to eat something, so it bites onto a fisherman's bait.

No matter how much it struggles, the bait won't come loose, and when it is pulled up, a stranger- the fisherman-looks at it hungrily. In the end, the fish-shaped pastry resigns itself, saying, "After all, I was just a fish-shaped pastry. Just a slightly burnt one," and is eaten by the fisherman.

It's quite a tragic story for a children's song. In fact, if you search for this song in Japan, one of the related search terms is "weird lyrics."

So why was this song turned into a toy? At the time, the song was a massive hit, becoming the first ever to debut at number one on the Oricon single chart and holding the top spot for 11 consecutive weeks.

The reason for its popularity was that many interpreted the fish-shaped pastry's escape to the sea as similar to the lives of office workers.

In 1975, Japan had just come through the oil shock and was enjoying a period of relative stability. In 1976, the Lockheed scandal-the largest political funding scandal in Japanese history-broke out, creating a tense social atmosphere, but in 1975, when the song was released, things were somewhat better.

However, as the country entered a period of economic growth, workers were expected to work relentlessly. As was also the case in Korea at the time, there was not even a five-day workweek, let alone a 52-hour workweek, so working conditions were extremely harsh. In addition, as the economy developed, education levels rose and academic background became increasingly important, raising the standards society expected from individuals.

It was during this time that the song appeared, and more and more office workers began to identify with the fish-shaped pastry, seeing themselves as trapped in the company (instead of on a griddle) and longing for the freedom of the sea. However, the song also conveyed a sense of resignation, as even after escaping, the fish-shaped pastry doesn't survive for long.

Thanks to this sense of empathy, the story of the fish-shaped pastry's escape became a sad anthem for office workers and gained widespread popularity.

Today, we've shared the story behind the strange fish-shaped pastry toy. Even a fish-shaped pastry longs for the sea, so why wouldn't we? Wishing everyone a wonderful and enjoyable remainder of the weekend.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.