Who’s got a hankering for hair?
It’s already common knowledge that a lot of hardcore anime fans have a favorite character that they feel a deep, emotional bond with. In modern otaku/fujoshi parlance, this favorite character is called one’s oshi, which comes from the Japanese word osu, meaning “to recommend,” and by extension “to support.”
At the risk of sounding vulgar, there are apparently also some superfans who, when they look at their oshi, don’t just want to support them, but to do something else too. We’re talking about, of, course, eating their hair.
At least, Tokyo anime song cafe Stars says that there are fans who want to eat their favorite character’s hair, and the eatery is happy to oblige them with a special event they’ve straightforwardly dubbed “Let’s Eat Our Oshi’s Hair.”
Popular anime aesthetics have long included a vibrant rainbow palette of tresses, and so Stars has prepared an extensive selection of “hair” colors. If the whole concept seems pretty weird, well, Stars itself admits that this is a “seemingly insane plan,” which might be why Let’s Eat Our Oshi’s Hair is only being held at Stars’ branch in the Akihabara otaku district, not its other locations in the comparatively more mainstream neighborhoods of Ikebukuro and downtown Yokohama.
Even by the unique standards of Akihabara, though, you can’t legally serve human hair in a restaurant, and so the oshi hair is actually colored noodles. Specifically they’re somen, a type of thin wheat noodle traditionally served cold and dashed through a bowl of broth before being eaten. Somen is one of Japan’s favorite refreshing summertime dishes, and, speaking from our experience with girl’s hair-flavor fried chicken, we know that hair-themed food can be pretty tasty.
Let’s Eat Our Oshi’s Hair will be held on August 20, with prices ranging from 400 to 500 yen (US$2.96 to US$3.70) depending on exact color. And if you’re looking for other weird ways to eat somen, we’ve got plenty of ideas of our own.
Restaurant information
Stars (Akihabara branch) / すた～ず＠AKIBA （秋葉原）
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kanda Sudacho 2-23-10
東京都千代田区神田須田町２−２３−１０
Open 6 p.m.-5 a.m. (weekdays), 5 p.m.-5 a.m. (weekends, holidays)
Website
Source, images: PR Times
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