Japan’s latest photo meme is a miniature woman, not intimidated by large cup sizes

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Fuchiko-by-1101.comPhoto via 1101.com

It’s really hard to predict what kind of product will be popular with consumers. But recently here in Japan a very small ‘gacha gacha‘ toy been getting lots of attention, selling three million units since initially going on sale in July of 2012. It is a small, simple figure of a girl, and she goes by the name of ‘Cup’s Fuchiko-san’. ‘Fuchi’ means edge in Japanese, and Fuchiko is a playful name for this diminutive girl who can be hung or placed on the edge of any cups or glass.

Fuchiko was created by a well-known manga artist, Katsuki Tanaka, in collaboration with a toy manufacturer Kitan Club. Fuchiko wears a typical blue work uniform, and comes in various versions in different poses. There are even official mooks (a Japanese portmanteau of ‘magazine’ and ‘book’) on Fuchiko, as well as short movies. She appears in animations, most recently in a short movie premiered before movies to promote good manners in movie theaters.

Cup’s Fuchiko-san gradually became an internet phenomenon, and the online buzz definitely contributed to its growing fame. Three contests have been held to date asking people to tweet unique photos of their own little Fuchiko with a designated hashtag. Below are some photos that were selected as winners, and you can see more over on Kitan Blog. Over 600 photos were submitted through Twitter for one of the contests, a truly great response that turned into a wonderful internet meme.

Fuchiko-hirosan415Photo via @hirosan415

Fuchiko-okome3Photo via. @okome3

Fuchiko-DokudanjoTomPhoto via @DokudanjoTom

Fuchiko-nancy_UUUPhoto via @nancy_UUU