Fake Food Props for Film, TV and Commercial Sets | Fake Food Japan
Fake Food Japan supplies hand-crafted PVC food replicas to film, television, commercial and stills productions worldwide. Every piece is made to order in Osaka, matched to reference photographs, and shipped with full commercial paperwork.
Why productions use replicas instead of real food
Real food on a set has a short useful life. It wilts under lights, changes color on camera between the first take and the fifth, needs a refrigerator and a handler, and has to be replaced repeatedly across a shooting day. None of that is a problem on the day the budget is written and all of it is a problem at 4:00 p.m. on day three.
A replica solves the specific things a production actually needs solved:
- Continuity. The dish is identical in take one and take forty, and identical again on a reshoot six weeks later.
- Heat and light. PVC does not sweat, melt, wilt or dull under a lighting rig.
- Close-up tolerance. Each piece is hand-painted rather than molded from a single color, which is what lets it hold up in a macro shot.
- No handling overhead. No refrigeration, no food-safety handling, no waste, and the piece goes back in a case at the end of the day.
- Reuse. A replica is an asset, not a consumable. It survives the production and can be struck to storage.
What we make
Our catalog runs to more than 1,400 designs, largely Japanese cuisine: sushi, ramen, tempura, donburi, izakaya dishes, Japanese confectionery and everyday Japanese foods, in life-size and small sizes. If a scene calls for a Japanese setting, most of what dresses that table already exists as a design.
Where a script or a storyboard calls for something specific, we make it to order. That includes a dish that does not exist, a non-Japanese dish, a period presentation, or a piece built to a particular size for a rig or a hero shot.
Two things worth knowing early. We sell, we do not rent. And we make food replicas specifically, so a request that is really a general prop-making job is one we will decline rather than take on badly.
Working from photographs and reference
We build from images. Send color photographs or reference frames from several angles, top, front, side and back, together with a written description of every visible component and the size dimensions you need. If the piece has to sit in a specific plate, bowl or vessel that you already have on the art department shelf, you can ship us the actual vessel for an exact match, or send photographs and dimensions and we will match as closely as we can without guaranteeing an exact match to something we have never handled.
We confirm within several business days whether our craftsmen can make the piece, and come back with an approximate price and a time frame. The full submission format, with worked examples, is on our Customized Orders page.
Lead times and shooting dates
This is the part that catches productions out, so it is worth being blunt about it.
Custom work takes at least four weeks in the workshop from the point an order is confirmed, and international shipping from Osaka is on top of that. We do not start production, and we do not hold workshop capacity, against an inquiry or a pending purchase order. If you tell us a shoot date, we will tell you honestly whether it is reachable, but the clock starts on order confirmation and not on first contact.
If the date is tight, say so in the first email. Sometimes an existing catalog design is close enough to what the scene needs, and that is a much shorter path than a custom build.
Shipping and customs for production companies
We ship from Osaka worldwide. Shipping is quoted separately once the finished pieces are packed and weighed, since fragile plated pieces need substantial protective packing and the volume drives the cost more than the weight does.
For production accountants and customs brokers: our replicas are classified under HS code 3926.90, country of origin Japan. Every shipment carries a full commercial invoice at the true transaction value. Unless otherwise agreed, shipment is on a DAP basis, and any import duty or tax is payable by the consignee.
Get a quote for a production
Send your reference images, component descriptions, dimensions and quantities, along with your shooting date if you have one, and we will come back within several business days.
Begin a custom prop order or contact us with a question first.
