Do you love melonpan?

Of course you do. Who can resist that satisfyingly ridged pattern, the round shape, and the combination of delicious, crunchy sugary coating and soft chewy dough inside? It's no surprise that the melonpan is one of Japan's favorite treats and a huge hit with many foreign visitors.

Melonpan, melonpan.

With its perfect balance of mellifluous and percussive sounds, the "melonpan" mantra works its magic on your imagination. Before you know it, you're transported to the Japanese bakery shop...

Some people miss their melonpan so much that they've found ways of simulating one at home with simple ingredients and a toaster.

But if you really can't do without melonpan in your life, there's a new solution:

Buy yourself a melonpan face mask like this one:

That's right. A melonpan face mask.

In fact, while you're at it, buy one for a friend.

As you can see, wearing the "Mask Pan" マスクパン (literally, "mask bread") face mask gives you a permanent "melonpan munching" face, so everyone will know just how much of a melonpan maniac you are.

This face mask is brought to you by the innovative folks at Goku no Kimochi The Labo, the product division of the company operating the amazing Goku no Kimochi head massage salon with locations in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and New York. (If you'd like to see how amazing they are, read our visually appealing report on their Harajuku Jingu branch here.)

Doesn't it look real? Well, that's because it is.

Yes, this is actually made from a real melonpan, contributed by the melonpan specialty shop chain "Melon de Melon"

According to the press release, this is the world's first edible face mask, inspired by "a group of university students between the ages of 19 and 20 who love bread and dreamed of smelling bread all the time."

Goku no Kimochi explains that they made the masks "in the hope that we can have something fun to brag about in the future someday." They'd like to create fun memories "where everyone wears a melonpan and laughs together."

But that doesn't mean that they skimped on safety.

According to a product performance test conducted in April by Unitika Garmentech Laboratory, a third-party testing organization for masks, the "Mask Pan" face mask was "equal to or better than commercially available masks in the visualization test for droplet prevention performance."

Here's the paperwork to prove it:

With the Mask Pan face mask, you can enjoy that delicious smell of melonpan as you walk around town, like this:

If you live in Japan, and want to try it for yourself, follow the link here.

And if you get hungry, you can always take off your mask and eat it. (Or at least, eat the inside part, if you have qualms about eating the outside part?)

If you're still outside, though, you may want to have another mask to wear when you're done...

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Product information

• Name: "Mask Pan" Face Mask
• Price: 1,800 yen for a pack of 5 (tax included)
• Content: Includes mask string and string thread
• Dimensions: The size of the melon pan is 12cm in diameter
• Availability: Goku no Kimochi The Labo website
• Delivery: To Japanese addresses only (proxy shopping services may not be available)