If you’ve been to Japan, or other Asian countries like China, Korea… you may have noticed that many places display “food” samples in front of their shops.

Since living in Asia I’ve wondered how and who was behind this. Who makes this “food?” After much research we finally got the chance to visit one of these traditional Japanese companies that that designs and manufactures fake food samples.

Akihabara News Jump into the world of Fake Japanese Food Making
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The company we visited was “Sato Sample” based in Saitama, an almost century old family business well known in the industry for their quality.

At Sato Sample you won’t see long lines and noisy machinery, everything is done the good old way, by hand. Yes, Sato Sample is one of those rare craftwork companies where quality is above anything else.

The process is pretty simple. Take a look at our video and photo gallery to get some idea how things are done. Basically there are two teams, one that creates casts, prepare silicone, creates the base colors, and cook all the elements. The second team work is dedicated to creating finished products by assembling them if necessary, painting them and giving them their fresh look that separates Sato Sample from the rest by creating amazing and authentic looking products.

While we saw each step in the creation of this food, we were unable to shoot (video or photos) certain parts of the process to protect Sato Sample’s know-how… What we can tell you is making stunning products isn’t cheap and takes a lot of time… Like any craftmaker, time is everything (with skill of course).

It’s also very interesting to know Sato Sample doesn’t only prepare fake food samples for restaurants, but also for souvenir shops in Japan and around the world. They are often contacted by museums to create animals and other exhibits… They are also contacted by universities and hospitals in Japan to create simulated body parts and even tumors for training medical students.

Sato Sample can reproduce almost anything, from sushi to the human hand… Another impressive thing is how incredibly resistant their creations are. Made with a special silicon (family recipe), Sato Sample guarantees a 20 year minimum life span… Sato Sample’s pride is a major problem… their products have such a long life span customers don’t need to order them as much as Sato Sample would them like to…

We’d like to give a final thanks to Sato Sample and their team for their kind invitation, and thank both SolidAlliance and GeekStuff4U.com for making this visit possible!