Meatless meat buns fill Japanese Internet with joy

Cheap convenience store treats are filled with possibilities.

Nikuman, steamed buns with minced pork inside, are a staple of Japanese convenience stores. That popularity has led to the creation of several other steamed bun treats, like the pizza bun, the curry bun, and the Final Fantasy Moogle bun.

Now comes one of the strangest steamed buns yet, though: the nothing bun.

Convenience store chain Lawson Store 100 calls it the Gunashiman, or “No-Filling Steamed Bun,” and it’s shown at the bottom right in the above photo, just a solid semi-sphere of steamed bread with no filling or seasonings. While you can choose to chow down on the plain bread as-is, what Lawson Store 100 really recommends is tearing the bun open and inserting whatever filling you like. For example, here’s a No-Filling Steamed Bun that’s been subsequently filled with yakitori, chunks of grilled chicken slathered in a teriyaki sauce.

And here’s one that’s been filled after purchase with a thick slice of kakuni pork.

The do-it-yourself approach is a good match with Lawson Store 100, the budget-friendly sister store to the Lawson convenience store chain. Most of Lawson Store 100’s items are priced at just 100 yen (US$0.87), and the store carries a wide variety of canned goods and other foodstuffs that are worthy candidates for adding to a No-Filling Steamed Bun. In addition to yakitori and kakuni, they also recommend adding fillings such as hamburger steak, croquettes, and minced vegetables, or pieces of fruit, whipped cream, and anko sweet red bean paste if you want a dessert bun.

With No-Filling Steamed Buns priced at 100 yen for a set of two, even buying two separate fillings would bring the total up to just 300 yen. That’s roughly the same price as two pre-made nikuman at a regular convenience store chain, but with a lot more potential fillings to choose from, and likely a greater quantity of filling too. Reactions online to the No-Filling Steamed Bun have been overwhelmingly positive so far, with comments on Twitter such as:

“I’ve been waiting so long for someone to sell this sort of thing!”
“So happy.”
“No-Filling Steamed Buns? Awesome!”
“Totally gonna eat these!”
“Two for 100 yen sounds like a really great deal.”
“I wish my local 7-Eleven had these too.”

The No-Filling Steamed Buns are on sale now at Lawson Store 100, and we might just have to pick some up for our next senbero project.

Source: PR Times, Twitter
Images: PR Times
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