from: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0211/0211...1120booger.html
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Kids pick Gorilla Boogers as favorite snot snack
By Ryann Connell
Staff writer
November 19, 2002
Something 'snot quite right about the popular snack food being touted as the pick of the bunch being sold around Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, according to Shukan Shincho (11/28) . But it seems to have people going ape over it anyway.
Gorilla no Hana Kuso (Gorilla Boogers) are small, black and wrinkly objects with a sprinkling of white powder and no particular odor. And, coming in 110-gram bags costing 500 yen apiece, they're selling like hot cakes around Japan's most popular zoo.
Nosing around a little reveals that far from being the mucus it claims to be, these Gorilla boogers are actually sweet black beans.
"A friend of mine saw this product my missus' family was making and said, 'Gee, that looks like gorilla snot!' As soon as I heard that, I knew I had a hit product on my hands," Shukan Shincho hears from Kazumasa Oka, president of Okaisaburo Shoten, a store based in Hirata, Shimane Prefecture. "The missus and her family were dead against the idea, but I managed to overcome their opposition and create the gorilla booger candies under their current product name in April last year."
Considering the name of the product, Oka felt its best hope of success would be to be sold in areas close to zoos.
Reluctant to sell within the bounds of Ueno Zoo for fear of leading to misunderstanding, Oka put the gorilla boogers up on sale in booths located in the massive park that surrounds the zoo. The results were beyond even his wildest dreams and bean counters were beaming.
"In the half-year since April this year, we've sold more gorilla boogers than any other product," a Ueno Park administration source tells Shukan Shincho .
With a good nose for business, Oka is confident that his customers won't be snotty when it comes to his follow-up product, either. It's basically the same product as gorilla boogers, but is sold at aquariums under the name Rakko no Hana Kuso (Otter Boogers).
Hardly recommended, but just in case there's somebody out there looking for a more authentic taste, Ueno zookeepers have got some good news picked up from the six gorillas they look after.
"Gorillas pick their noses and smell and lick whatever they come out with," a zookeeper tells Shukan Shincho , "I suppose there really are gorilla boogers."
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