Anyone who has ever traveled in Japan without knowing much of the language can appreciate the abundance of beautifully crafted plastic food samples placed outside of restaurants. It's a great convenience for foreign visitors, and even if you know the language it gives you an immediate idea of what a shop has to offer. While every so often, you can catch a special on Japanese television detailing just how much hard work and effort the makers of these plastic food samples put into their craft, that doesn't mean they aren't above having some fun with it. Recently Iwasaki-be-I, Japan's top plastic food sample maker, held a contest within their company to show off the creativity of their employees.

The contest has become an annual tradition at the company, going on fro 45 years since 1968, and the entries from 2015 are so artistic and clever that topping them in 2016 may be too daunting a task!

An octopus cooking up some takoyaki

Cucumbers and kiwis that become one another

Ukiyo-e ice cream

A salmon giving you some "fresh" eggs

Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a pie, it's...both!

Fresh beer and melon soda

Fruit juice straight from the source

Pasta tennis racket

Carrots bathing in beef stew

An octopus chilling in takowasa (octopus and wasabi)

Sushi-sized tuna

Fish that look too real

Painting with mandarin oranges

An artistic tomato explosion

A beetle making the ultimate sacrifice for your Christmas present

A literal kabedon!