Photo: Iwatani
lifestyle

World’s first Takoyaki Guitar created in Japan; features a gas grill and octopus balls

7 Comments
By Oona McGee, SoraNews24

Takoyaki is a Japanese specialty that’s got a lot of things going for it — it’s delicious, easy to eat, widely loved, and fun to make, as the octopus-filled balls are cooked up in special grills with hollowed-out spheres.

As it turns out, takoyaki is also fun to play and listen to, as two Japanese companies recently came together to create…the Takoyaki Guitar.

While it might look like a gimmick, this is an actual instrument that can be played, and it was born out of an idea from Yamano Music. In recent years, they’ve been creating special local guitars that sing the pride of different regions, and when they decided to make a guitar in honor of Osaka, the image that came to mind was takoyaki, the region’s famous specialty.

Yamano decided to reach out to Osaka-based gas grill maker Iwatani to see if they would like to join forces to create a “Takoyaki Guitar“, and after two years of fine-tuning, the fruits, or should we say octopus balls, of the collaboration were finally revealed.

▼ The Takoyaki Guitar is the third local guitar created by Yamano, and it boasts a number of unique features.

Screen-Shot-2022-08-12-at-10.36.49.png

The first feature is the main body of the guitar, which is made with the body of an actual takoyaki grill, namely Iwatani’s Entako II, which is a nice plug for the product. The grill itself is filled with plastic takoyaki samples that look just like the real thing, and in honor of the star ingredient, a red octopus leg runs along the neck of the instrument.

The tuning pegs are topped with half a dozen plastic takoyaki, and the grill lights up with LEDs to mimic the blue light of the gas burners. It’s a very clever design, and while it’s fantastic to look at, it’s an actual electric guitar so it sounds pretty good too.

▼ The guitar was played by singer/songwriter Sae Banjoya at a grand unveiling in Osaka held on Takoyaki Day on August 8.

The clip above ends with the reminder, “Of course, it doesn’t grill takoyaki“, so the guitar can’t be unstrung in between sets to grill a few octopus balls. Unlike the grill itself, which is on the market for 7,981 yen, the guitar, which cost a cool half a million yen to make, won’t be going into production. There are two in the world, though, and they’re available to view at Iwatani Outdoor Shop Base and Yamano Music’s Rock Inn Namba, both of which are located in Osaka.

So next time you’re in the hometown of the humble octopus ball, you might want to stop by and take some photos of the instrument, which is being billed as the world’s first Takoyaki Guitar.

Related: Iwatani Outdoor Shop BaseRock Inn Namba

Source: Iwatani via Net Lab

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- “Hey, Japanese taxi driver, take us to the best takoyaki in Osaka!”

-- Takoyaki makers surprisingly good at grilling meat for yakiniku too

-- We miss out on cheap all-you-can-eat takoyaki, but stuff ourselves with octopus balls anyway

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

7 Comments
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I love you Japan...

Please never change..

Frikiest and coolest country of the world !!..

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

In 2022 Yamano music gave us the Takoyaki Guitar- and we gave it back, almost immediately.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sounds awful.

A guitar needs a real body and a mast.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What a pity that

The girl in the video can't sing

Can't play the guitar

The guitar is out of tune

The song is awful
1 ( +2 / -1 )

The title. You can't make this stuff up. I love Japan.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

2 years to fine tune something that isn't going to be made or used.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

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