1200-Year-Old Japanese Animal Lollipop Tradition Kept Alive By Shinri Tezuka

How much realism do you want in your lollipop? If your answer is “a lot”, then let us introduce you to Shinri Tezuka, a Japanese artist making realistic animal lollipops. He’s pursuing the age-old art of Amezaiku, which is all about making as realistic looking lollipops of aquatic creatures as possible. Likely imported from China during in the 8th century, it requires incredible endurance from the artist who must use their hands to form the hot candy. For this reason, the art doesn’t lend itself to mass reproduction, and the lollies sell for about 1000-2000 yen (8-17 dollars) each.