“Was I the only one who didn’t know?”… Will this toy that has sold out across Japan whip up a craze in Korea too? - 경향신문

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사진 크게보기 Mellojoy goes to great lengths to mimic the texture of food. Each item feels different, ranging from products as fluffy as cream to ones as chewy as mochi. Official Mellojoy website

You press down hard on something that looks like bread. The dented shape slowly returns. This time, you pick up a piece of sushi and press again. Its appetizing look and oddly squishy feel draw you in and make you keep touching it.

Recently in Japan, these “squishy” toys have been enjoying unusual popularity. The name is “MELLOJOY.” It is a squishy toy line that faithfully recreates various foods such as cakes and cookies, mochi, hamburgers, and sushi.

It is not just a toy that deforms when pressed. Mellojoy strives to imitate the textures of food. Each type offers a different feel, from products as soft as cream to ones as springy as rice cake. The very ‘restoration process’ of slowly returning to its original shape after being pressed becomes part of the play.

TikTok was the spark that set this toy alight in Japan. Videos of taking products out of their packaging and actually pressing them, comparing multiple items, and “unboxing” blind products poured in. You cannot transmit tactile sensations through a screen, but simply watching fingers press down and then seeing the item slowly return gives a curious sense of satisfaction.

As of June this year, Mellojoy’s official Japanese TikTok account had about 500,000 followers, and live sales reportedly drew more than 40,000 concurrent viewers at one point. Some items sold out within a minute of sales starting. As it became so hard to get, Japanese fans began calling it “Murijoy,” adding “muri, muri)” to the name to mean “it is so difficult to buy Mellojoy that it feels impossible.”

The craze spilled from online to offline. In Japan, the popular TBS program “The World Unknown to Matsuko” introduced squishies last month, and on the 9th, Mellojoy opened its first-ever physical store in Harajuku, Tokyo. The shop offers about 150 kinds of squishies and even features a photo zone built around giant squishies.

Yet despite its popularity, Mellojoy is not a Japanese toy. According to the Japanese outlet Shibuya Keizai Shimbun, Mellojoy is an “art toy brand born in China.” The operator listed in the business information of the official Japanese sales site is also a company based in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

It is not surprising that a Chinese brand is gaining traction in Japan. In recent years, China’s art toy and character brands have rapidly expanded their presence in global markets. A representative case is Pop Mart’s “Labubu.” A character that grew in China spread to the United States, Europe, and Japan, shaking up the global collectibles market.

So could Mellojoy whip up a storm in Korea as well? An online “Mellojoy Korea” sales channel is already operating. A variety of items such as hamburgers, cakes, cookies, mochi, and waffles are listed, with prices ranging from the mid-10,000 won level to around 30,000 won depending on the product. Some items are already sold out.

However, the mood in Korea is a bit different from Japan. While consumers and collectors looking for the products have emerged domestically, it is hard to say a large TikTok fandom has formed or that buzzwords like “Murijoy” have taken off as in Japan.

The popularity of such tactile toys aligns with recent consumption trends. Rather than just looking, people gain satisfaction by touching, pressing, and unwrapping. Especially on social media, the ‘process’ itself has become content. Tearing open packaging without knowing what is inside, checking the first tactile impression in hand, and lining up several products to compare them all turn directly into videos.

Mellojoy adds a playful twist with the idea of something that looks like food but cannot be eaten. There is the fun of seeing how closely it resembles real food and, at the same time, the fun of pressing a squishiness completely unlike food.

It also touts its production method as a differentiator. Mellojoy promotes that it uses 100% food-grade silicone instead of thermoplastic rubber (TPR) or polyurethane (PU), which are common in squishy products. The term food-grade should not be misunderstood as “edible.” It means using materials that are safe for contact with food, like containers or cookware that hold food. Each item is hand-finished to achieve delicate shapes and tactile sensations.

It remains to be seen whether Mellojoy will grow into a global collectibles brand like Labubu. Labubu’s explosive success was not simply because it was a cute figure. The character’s own universe, diverse collections, limited editions, and collaborations created a collecting cycle that made people want to buy the next release.

Mellojoy seems aware of this point, as it has begun promoting its own character, “Melloya.” The Harajuku store is not just a place to display toys, but an experiential space where visitors can take photos with the character and check out giant pieces.

Of course, it may also prove to be a passing fad. Pop Mart’s Labubu, which swept the world last year, was once so hot that it sold out upon release and fetched markups, but assessments this year say the heat has cooled. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) diagnosed, “As consumer interest around Labubu weakened in August, Pop Mart’s growth also slowed,” adding, “Demand for recently released Labubu items is far weaker than for previous products, and social media buzz has subsided.”