On the eve of a large-scale natural disaster, preparedness is everything. Sure smartphones can keep us in contact with the rest of world when traditional communication networks are down, but Twitter won’t help you much when food supplies start running low.

That’s where the “Survival Senbei iPhone 5 Case” comes in. This special case is made entirely from Japanese brown rice and salt, baked into a crispy golden-brown senbei rice cracker that fits snugly around your iPhone 5.

An iPhone that you can eat in times of crisis: this must be the future that Steve Jobs envisioned for the device! You just might want to avoid walking around with it your pocket…

The idea for an edible rice cracker smartphone case came to Mariko, a middle-aged Japanese woman and master senbei artisan, about a month ago.

In Japan, senbei are the snack of choice for the older generation. Perhaps hoping to dispel this image of senbei being “old people food,” Mariko spent countless hours researching how she could make a rice cracker that had a place in today’s fast-paced world. The answer was a smartphone case.

Having finally perfected the shape, Mariko is now accepting orders for the Survival Senbei iPhone 5 Case online. The cases cost 3,818 yen (a Japanese mnemonic pun on the word ‘survival’) and, depending on the volume of demand, delivery can take anywhere up to a month. This is because each case is handcrafted by Mariko herself, who explains, “I can make about three good ones a day.”

Furthermore, customers are warned that the Survival Senbei case is incredibly fragile and should be handled with the utmost care. So users know what they’re getting into, the site outlines the likelihood of the case breaking in various situations:

・Before arrival: 9%
・Affixing to iPhone 5: 76%
・Using touch screen: 18%
・Touched by friend: 81%
・Turning up the volume: 50%
・Connecting to PC: 54%
・When the user is upset or annoyed: 65%
・Putting in pocket: 89%
・When dropped: 120%

If you can manage to keep the case together, however, Mariko guarantees the probability of the Survival Senbei case tasting absolutely delicious is 100%.

Source: ITmedia, Survival Senbei iPhone 5 Case

▼You can eat it if it’s broken. You can eat it even if it’s not broken! You can eat it in times of emergency!