Last Call: Japan gets all the best food mascots

Because I follow Takeout contributor Jenny Pfafflin on Twitter, I was this week blessed to discover the existence of @mondomascots, an account dedicated to chronicling “the weird and wonderful world of Japanese mascots.” I proceeded to lose hours of my life down this rabbit hole.

Here’s Namejiro, a mushroom with ennui who is the star of Japan’s “Eat More Mushrooms” campaign:

Here’s a vaguely inappropriate apple:

Here’s a hybrid mouse-radish:

If my productivity has declined at all this week, now you know why.

PS: It’s a milestone birthday for my mom today, so happy birthday, Mom! She’s a faithful reader of The Takeout, so I know she’ll see this.