ODAWARA, Kanagawa -- A long-established maker of kamaboko, traditional fish sausage in Japan, began selling them in the shape of slime, which is a character from the popular video game series "Dragon Quest." The special kamaboko went on sale in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on July 23.
Suzuhiro Co., based in the city, obtained the full support of Square Enix Co., a Tokyo-based company that developed the game software, to release the new product.
An official of Suzuhiro said the kamaboko maker "hopes to get more young people to enjoy kamaboko" and so tried to draw younger people in by making the sausages into the shape of a popular video game chaｒacter.
Last year, Square Enix started distributing a game app, Dragon Quest Walk, for smartphones. Users of the game app actually walk around outside and beat monsters that appear on their smartphone screens.
In the game world, when users visit registered tourist spots across the nation, they can get fictitious items modeled after local specialty goods of the spots.
Square Enix began making real products of the virtual items. For the first one, the game company chose the slime-shaped kamaboko, which can be obtained when users visit Odawara Castle in the city.
Cape jasmine is used for the coloring of the sausage to make it a blue slime monsters, and bell peppers are used to make the orange slime monsters, according to Suzuhiro.
The company said the kamaboko are made from fish, and preserving agents or food additives are not used in them. A set of the blue and orange kinds is 880, yen plus tax.
The slime-shaped kamaboko will be sold until Nov. 10 in the company's Kamaboko Village Suzunari Market store and some other places in the city.
"As the slime characters are cute, customers will enjoy eating the kamaboko in their bento boxes and daily meals," said a spokesperson of Suzuhiro.
For telephone inquiry, call Suzuhiro at (0465) 22-3191.
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