soba

Finding out you can’t eat soba stinks — but at least this is the coolest way to get bad news!

Soba, the Japanese name for “buckwheat,” is one of the most popular foods in Japan — for locals and visitors alike! Of course, for many, it probably doesn’t rank up there with something like sushi, but we love soba noodles and we’re sure quite a few of our readers do as well. But next time your in Hokkaido getting ready to go to town on a heaping serving of delicious soba noodles, they may ask you to get a tattoo before you start eating.

▼ Don’t worry, though, because it’ll be temporary!

As part of a campaign to increase awareness of soba allergies and to increase interest in soba noodles in general, the 230 Soba Street Promotion Association, a group of soba restaurants along Route 230 in Hokkaido, produced these temporary tattoos. The tattoos feature ukiyoe-style prints and certain sections turn red when applied if the wearer happens to be allergic to soba. In general, the buckwheat allergy is not well known outside of Japan, where a study completed in the 1960s found that 0.22% of children studied had the allergy. It’s not terribly common, but in it’s most severe form, it can cause anaphylactic shock.

▼ The temporary tattoos before and after detecting a buckwheat allergy

temptattoo

And here are some larger versions of the temporary tattoos! They’re cool enough that you’ll want to take some home with you even after you’ve found out whether or not you’re allergic to buckwheat.

While finding out you have allergy is hardly fun, at least with these temporary tattoos, you’ll have a badass souvenir to show for your troubles. And you’ll be able to skip a trip to the emergency room, too!

And if that’s not a high-tech enough souvenir for you, you may want to see if you can convince someone to give you their robotic arms from under their skirt! Hopefully you’re not allergic to awesome…

Sources: Facebook/230そば街道推進委員会, Net Lab, Inbound Navi, PR Times
Featured image: Facebook/230そば街道推進委員会
Images: Facebook/230そば街道推進委員会, press release via PR Times