As the biggest celebration in the Japanese calendar, it only makes sense that New Year should be celebrated with some traditional sweets.

Thanks to Bandai’s sweets brand, ‘Tabemasu’, fans of cute characters in Japan are treated, every so often, to some creations that are both traditional and adorable. Their lineups consist of detailed ‘wagashi’ (traditional Japanese sweet) depictions of popular characters, rendered entirely edible. They’ve even teamed up with companies such as Sanrio and Disney before, to create versions of characters such as Hello Kitty and the Toy Story Aliens.

For this special New Year release, Tabemasu are returning to some previous favourites, the lovable characters of ‘Sumikko Gurashi’. The sweets are made of ‘nerikiri’, a type of traditional Japanese sweet made out of white bean paste and mochi dough. This malleable food can be easily coloured, moulded and carved into various shapes, and in this case, particular attention has been paid to recreating the characters’ cute, round eyes and plump figures.

The chosen duo is Shirokuma and Neko, sold in a set of two. Shirokuma has a sweet strawberry flavoured filling and Neko has a creamy custard flavoured paste inside. The packaging is seasonally themed, reflecting the New Year release.

The adorable set can be found in Aeon stores all over Japan (excluding Okinawa) for 380 yen (plus tax) from 30th December 2020.