Bananas don’t grow in Tokyo. That hasn’t stopped them from becoming a symbol of the city anyway

A box of four Tokyo Banana cakes. (Catherine Phillips/CNN via CNN Newsource)

You can’t visit Tokyo without seeing them. These pale-yellow boxes of individually wrapped bite-size cakes are emblazoned with images of the capital’s most famous tourist attractions and, sometimes, with some of Japan’s most recognizable animated characters.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of gold-ribbon-wrapped packages of Tokyo Banana are sold around the Japanese capital’s transportation hubs and tourist districts and branded as the city’s official snack.

But what does Tokyo Banana actually have to do with Tokyo, a city that doesn’t have any banana trees?

Unlike many Japanese treats, which are made with ingredients native to various regions and connected with millennia-long manufacturing traditions (think udon noodles, green tea, and yuzu candies), Tokyo Banana was purely born out of capitalism.

In the 20th century, as Tokyo grew into the world’s biggest city and opened to tourists from around the world, it still didn’t have many traditions to call its own. There wasn’t one standout food or drink product that was unique to Tokyo or that had centuries of carefully-tended history to acknowledge.

Compare that with Kyoto, which was Japan’s capital from the 8th to 19th centuries: one restaurant has been making soba noodles out of locally grown buckwheat since 1702. Japan is also home to the world’s oldest hotel, a hot springs resort that opened to guests in 705.

Japanese snack manufacturer Grapestone saw a vacuum there and decided to make a Tokyo-centric product that could be marketed as a local specialty.

“Tokyo is the place where various people come from all over Japan and it becomes a hometown for them,” a Grapestone representative tells CNN.

“We decided to invent a Tokyo souvenir with the theme which all Japanese people will feel familiar and nostalgic about. Bananas are the taste of high-end products or imported goods for older people. For younger people, it is the taste of fun memories bringing (bananas) on field trips.”

The result was banana-shaped treats that are fluffy on the outside and filled with banana-flavored cream.

Or, as Tokyo-based tour guide Katie Thompson puts it, a “fancy Twinkie.”

A gift-giving culture

Tokyo Banana is a perfect example of omiyage, a Japanese tradition in which people who have recently traveled bring gifts — usually edible ones — back to their friends, families and colleagues.

Like so many Japanese customs, there are nuances to choosing and buying the perfect omiyage.

They are more than just souvenirs. Unlike in the West, where a returning traveler might bring back a magnet or T-shirt for a loved one, omiyage is almost always something to eat or drink that must be consumed soon after the buyer’s return.

By that logic, the gifts are usually food products that only come from one region, or that are known for being particularly good there – examples include salt from the sunny islands of Okinawa, traditional matcha from Kyoto, and apple treats from Aomori prefecture in Japan’s north.

But while omiyage might be a Japanese tradition, Tokyo Banana’s biggest market is foreign travelers, not locals, a move that the company says was intentional. Grapestone tells CNN that the company was offered retail space at Haneda Airport in the 1990s, which prompted them to invent Tokyo Banana in the first place.

With its Tokyo branding and the product’s name clearly written in English, Tokyo Banana quickly became associated with its namesake city.

Jeff Lui, a Canadian living in Japan, thinks that Tokyo Banana is brilliantly marketed toward international tourists.

“You’re almost obligated to buy this omiyage for your friends back home. It’s kind of saying, ‘Hey, I was thinking of you right while I was there, and here’s this thing that I know you will use.’”

But on social media, it’s a different story.

TikTokers from outside of Japan make a beeline for the treats when they arrive in Tokyo. Some show off the rare flavors they’ve snagged, while others give tips on which ones to bring back as gifts for family. And just like the American Twinkie, they’re as fun to smush as they are to eat.

Creator Eat With Adrian’s review of Tokyo Banana has gotten about 260,000 views on TikTok, with commenters chiming in to say how much they want to buy some for themselves.

Thompson, who has been living in Japan for about eight years, admits that Tokyo Bananas are not her personal go-to snack.

“I’m not the biggest fan. I find the inside to be quite artificial tasting. Banana doesn’t lend itself very well into becoming a sweet custard or candy.”

Although she says friends and relatives back in her native US have asked about Tokyo Banana, she doesn’t buy it for them.

“My go-to, if I am traveling internationally, I pick up sugar butter sand trees. It has a silly name, but it’s actually a tasty cookie as well.” Coincidentally, the cookies are also a Grapestone product.

Lui agrees that Tokyo Banana isn’t something he picks up and eats himself, but he deals with lots of questions from loved ones in his native Canada when they visit.

“Every time someone from Toronto comes (to Japan) they’re like, ‘Oh, like I saw this Tokyo Banana thing, and I bought a few boxes to bring back home.’” On his website Tokyo Chase, Lui reviews other Japanese snacks and tries to steer people in different directions when they’re buying foodie souvenirs, especially if they are repeat visitors to Japan who want to dig a little deeper.

In recent years, Tokyo Banana has made an effort to become more local-friendly.

Grapestone periodically launches new flavors, like lemon, sakura or honey. To create a buzz, certain products will only be available for purchase at one specific outlet, like its shop in the fashionable Ginza neighborhood.

The brand has collaborated with popular homegrown characters like Pikachu, Chiikawa, Hello Kitty and Doraemon. And, of course, there’s also a Tokyo Banana-flavored Kit Kat.

In 2022, Tokyo Banana opened a flagship store inside Tokyo Station. To celebrate, they tried out a savory product, a spin on a popular Japanese curry bread made with “pork and beef simmered with onions, heavy cream and banana puree.”

Grapestone won’t reveal exactly how many products they sell in a year, but on their website it says that Tokyo Banana is the most popular food souvenir in Japan’s capital.

The brand tells CNN that if you laid out every single Tokyo Banana sold in a year, the tiny cakes would reach across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to the United States.

Usually, though, they travel by air.

Lilit Marcus, CNN. Soyon Nishioka contributed reporting.