Fake Food Japan makes hand-crafted PVC food replicas for restaurant window displays, counter cases and menu boards. Every piece is made to order in Osaka by the same craftsmen who supply the Japanese domestic trade, and we ship worldwide.

How menu displays work in Japan

Walk down almost any restaurant street in Japan and the decision to go in is made outside, at the window. The replicas in that window are called shokuhin sampuru, and they have been part of the Japanese dining trade for close to a century. They exist because a photograph on a menu board tells a passer-by what a dish is called, while a full-size replica tells them what it will actually look like when it lands on the table: the portion, the gloss, the height of the noodles above the broth, the exact color of the sauce.

A display also solves problems that real food cannot. It does not spoil, does not need refrigeration, does not attract pests, and raises no health-code question about food left sitting out. It looks the same in the window on a July afternoon as it did the morning it was installed, and it keeps working after closing time.

Our replicas are produced by a workshop in Osaka led by head chef Fumio Morino, whose father founded it and where the craft has been practiced for more than eighty years. Each piece is built in PVC and hand-painted. Nothing is stamped out of a mold and shipped from stock.

What a restaurant actually orders

The most common mistake is trying to replicate the whole menu. A display works by narrowing a decision, not by reproducing the printed menu in three dimensions. In practice the dishes worth making are:

• Signature dishes. The two or three things you want to be known for, not the things that merely sell in volume.
• Dishes that read from a distance. Height, layers, gloss and color contrast carry across a sidewalk. A flat beige bowl does not, however good it tastes.
• High-margin items. A display is a merchandising tool. Point it at the dish you most want ordered.
• Dishes that will still be on the menu in three years. A replica is a fixed asset. Seasonal specials are the wrong target.

Beyond the window, the other two placements worth planning for are a counter or register display, which works on customers who are already inside and already ordering and should therefore feature add-ons and desserts, and an entrance case, which helps customers unfamiliar with the cuisine choose faster and therefore favors breadth over drama.

Single items or complete plated presentations

We make both. A single item is one food component: a bowl of ramen, a slice of cake, a piece of sushi. A complete plated presentation is the dish as it is actually served, on the dishware it is served on, which is what most window displays need.

Where a plated presentation involves your own plates, bowls or trays, there are two ways to handle the dishware:

• You ship us the actual dishware. The replica is then built into your own plate and the match is exact.
• You send photographs and we match as closely as we can. Our craftsmen will source the nearest equivalent, but we cannot guarantee an exact match to a plate we have never handled.

Either way, we need the approximate dimensions of the dishware, the diameter and the height, before we can quote. This is the single most common reason a quote request stalls.

Custom replication from photographs

Almost everything a restaurant orders is custom, because it is your dish and not a generic one. We work from photographs. You do not need to send us food, and in most cases we would rather you did not.

What we need to begin:

1. Color photographs of each dish taken from several angles: top, front, side and back.
2. A written description of everything visible in those photographs, component by component. If the photograph shows six ingredients, list six ingredients.
3. The size dimensions of each item, including the dishware.
4. The quantity of each piece you want made.

Once we have that, we confirm within several business days whether our craftsmen can make it, and come back with an approximate price and a time frame. Full details and worked examples are on our Customized Orders page.

Lead times

A custom display takes at least four weeks in the workshop from the point the order is confirmed, and often longer for a multi-dish set. Shipping from Osaka is on top of that. We do not begin production or reserve workshop capacity against an unconfirmed inquiry, so if you are working to an opening date, count backwards from it and allow margin.

Items already in our catalog are also made to order rather than pulled from a shelf, though the lead time is shorter because the design already exists.

Repeat orders and wholesale

Custom work is quoted individually, order by order. That includes a repeat of a dish we have already made for you, whether for a second location or to replace a damaged piece, so come back to us with the original order details rather than assuming a standing price.

Wholesale is a separate track and applies to items already listed in our online catalog, not to custom pieces. Multi-location operators, distributors and retailers buying catalog items in quantity should look at our Wholesale Orders terms.

Shipping, duties and paperwork

We ship from Osaka to more than fifty countries. Shipping is quoted separately once the finished pieces are packed and weighed, because a plated ramen display and a tray of sushi pieces occupy very different volumes.

For commercial buyers who need it in advance: our replicas are classified under HS code 3926.90 and the country of origin is Japan. Every shipment carries a full commercial invoice at the real transaction value. Unless otherwise agreed, shipment is on a DAP basis, and any import duty or tax is payable by the consignee.

Start a display quote

Send us your photographs, descriptions, dimensions and quantities and we will tell you within several business days whether we can make it and what it will cost.

Begin a custom display order or contact us with a question first.