Prices of 1,656 food items to increase in Japan in February
In the survey, which examined price trends of 195 major food-makers in Japan, price hikes were notable for chocolate confectioneries, flour products and frozen food using rice.
The number of food items subject to price increases in 2025 is on track to surpass last year's total, with the cumulative number of such items since the beginning of the year possibly topping 10,000 as early as April, according to Teikoku Databank.
Partly because the prices of cacao beans, the raw material for chocolate, have been on the rise amid poor harvests, confectionery-maker Morinaga & Co. will pull up the shipment prices of 38 items, including chocolate confectionery Dars, by around 5% to 45%, while Ezaki Glico will raise the prices of chocolate snack Pocky.
In response to a sharp rise in the price of rice as a raw material, frozen food producer Nichirei Foods will increase the price of frozen grilled rice balls. Makers of flour products such as Nisshin Seifun Welna will raise the prices of cake flour and premix flour products.
As the depreciation of the yen and an increase in personnel expenses due to wage hikes are also putting upward pressure on food production costs, "a rush to raise prices will likely occur toward early spring this year on a larger scale than last year," a Teikoku Databank official said.
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Japan Today
09-08-2025
- Japan Today
The shape of Pocky is now legally trademarked in Japan
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24 Every box of Pocky has a picture of the chocolate-covered pretzel sticks on it, but you could make the argument that it's sort of redundant. In the 59 years that it's been on the market, Pocky has become one of Japan's most beloved sweet snacks, and you'd have a hard time finding someone in the country who doesn't know what it looks like. That familiarity runs in the opposite direction as well. Show someone a Pocky stick, outside of its packaging and with the product name nowhere in sight, and the vast majority of people in Japan will still be able to tell you, without hesitation 'That's Pocky.' That's been statistically proven, too. In 2023, Pocky manufacturer Glico conducted a survey of 1,036 people in Japan, between the ages of 16 and 79, and more than 90 percent could identify Pocky just by its shape. Emboldened by those results, Glico went on to apply for an official, legal trademark for the shape of Pocky, and it's now been granted one by the Japanese government. This sort of status, referred to as a 3D trademark, isn't easy for a food product to obtain. The category is more commonly used for things such as characters or packaging with a uniquely defining shape, which is why you can't go out and start selling plushies that are an exact match for Mickey Mouse or bottle your upstart soda in bottles that are precisely the same as Coca-Cola's. The hurdle for food items to obtain 3D trademarks is especially high, though, given that their shapes are sometimes simply the natural result of a necessary cooking process, not something purposely created by design. Nevertheless, Glico was able to sufficiently convince Japan's trademark authorities that Pocky's shape is distinct and defining to the extent that the product can be sufficiently identified by its shape alone. The trademark was granted on July 25, though Glico didn't put out a press release until August. Ostensibly, this would give Glico the power to block the sale of snacks with the same shape as Pocky from other companies. Following the acquisition of the trademark, a representative for Glico said 'Moving forward, we will continue to appropriately protect and utilize our trademarks in order to develop and nurture this brand which has been loved for so long.' How much this will actually change the landscape of store snack shelves in Japan remains to be seen. With Pocky being popular with fans of Japanese pop culture, and delicious things in general, around the world, there are obvious imitators available in other countries. However, with Pocky's 3-D trademark being granted by the Japanese government, it doesn't really give Glico any significant leverage in halting the sale of copycat snacks overseas, though it would, in theory, bar such products from being imported into and sold in Japan. Among products regularly sold in the Japanese domestic market, Pocky doesn't have any exact imitators. The closest facsimile is Toppo, made by competitor Lotte, but its shape has contours that Pocky doesn't, and Toppo are pretzel sticks that are filled with chocolate, not covered in it, which also gives them a different shape. Oddly enough, it's debatable whether or not the 3D trademark for Pocky would apply to the brand's own coconut flavor, since its crunchy coconut shavings mean it doesn't conform to the standard 'Pocky shape.' But regardless of how exactly Glico is planning to use Pocky's 3D trademark, it really does have one now. Source: PR Times, NHK News Web Insert images: PR Times, Glico Read more stories from SoraNews24. -- Taste testing popular Korean and Japanese snacks that look similar: Pocky vs. Pepero -- New limited edition blue, heart-shaped Pocky designed for maximum happiness -- Handsome Pocky Boy anime designs are Japan's newest anthropomorphized sweets External Link © SoraNews24
SoraNews24
08-08-2025
- SoraNews24
The shape of Pocky is now legally trademarked in Japan
Manufacturer says it will 'appropriately protect and utilize our trademark' of the iconic chocolate pretzel stick snack. Every box of Pocky has a picture of the chocolate-covered pretzel sticks on it, but you could make the argument that it's sort of redundant. In the 59 years that it's been on the market, Pocky has become one of Japan's most beloved sweet snacks, and you'd have a hard time finding someone in the country who doesn't know what it looks like. That familiarity runs in the opposite direction as well. Show someone a Pocky stick, outside of its packaging and with the product name nowhere in sight, and the vast majority of people in Japan will still be able to tell you, without hesitation 'That's Pocky.' That's been statistically proven, too. In 2023, Pocky manufacturer Glico conducted a survey of 1,036 people in Japan, between the ages of 16 and 79, and more than 90 percent could identify Pocky just by its shape. Emboldened by those results, Glico went on to apply for an official, legal trademark for the shape of Pocky, and it's now been granted one by the Japanese government. This sort of status, referred to as a 3D trademark, isn't easy for a food product to obtain. The category is more commonly used for things such as characters or packaging with a uniquely defining shape, which is why you can't go out and start selling plushies that are an exact match for Mickey Mouse or bottle your upstart soda in bottles that are precisely the same as Coca-Cola's. The hurdle for food items to obtain 3D trademarks is especially high, though, given that their shapes are sometimes simply the natural result of a necessary cooking process, not something purposely created by design. Nevertheless, Glico was able to sufficiently convince Japan's trademark authorities that Pocky's shape is distinct and defining to the extent that the product can be sufficiently identified by its shape alone. The trademark was granted on July 25, though Glico didn't put out a press release until August. Ostensibly, this would give Glico the power to block the sale of snacks with the same shape as Pocky from other companies. Following the acquisition of the trademark, a representative for Glico said 'Moving forward, we will continue to appropriately protect and utilize our trademarks in order to develop and nurture this brand which has been loved for so long.' How much this will actually change the landscape of store snack shelves in Japan remains to be seen. With Pocky being popular with fans of Japanese pop culture, and delicious things in general, around the world, there are obvious imitators available in other countries. However, with Pocky's 3-D trademark being granted by the Japanese government, it doesn't really give Glico any significant leverage in halting the sale of copycat snacks overseas, though it would, in theory, bar such products from being imported into and sold in Japan. Among products regularly sold in the Japanese domestic market, Pocky doesn't have any exact imitators. The closest facsimile is Toppo, made by competitor Lotte, but its shape has contours that Pocky doesn't, and Toppo are pretzel sticks that are filled with chocolate, not covered in it, which also gives them a different shape. Oddly enough, it's debatable whether or not the 3D trademark for Pocky would apply to the brand's own coconut flavor, since its crunchy coconut shavings mean it doesn't conform to the standard 'Pocky shape.' But regardless of how exactly Glico is planning to use Pocky's 3D trademark, it really does have one now. Source: PR Times, NHK News Web Top image ©SoraNews24 Insert images: PR Times (1, 2), Glico ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow Casey on Twitter, where he worries that this development will make it harder for Meiji's Fran to make a comeback.
The Mainichi
08-08-2025
- The Mainichi
Japan's popular 'Pocky' chocolate snack shape registered as 3D trademark
TOKYO -- The shape of the popular Japanese chocolate snack "Pocky" has been registered as a three-dimensional trademark by the Japan Patent Office, snack giant Ezaki Glico Co. announced Aug. 4. A 3D trademark is a system that allows 3D shapes with a certain degree of uniqueness to be protected as trademarks. According to Ezaki Glico, this is one of the few cases where the product can be identified solely by the shape of the item inside the packaging, even without text or logos. In a 2023 survey conducted by the company, among some 1,000 people aged 16 to 79, about 90% recognized Pocky just by its shape. Registration was approved based on this data and other evidence. Pocky, first released in 1966, has been a beloved long-selling product for nearly 60 years and is now sold in about 30 countries and regions. Following the registration, a company representative stated, "We want to properly protect and utilize the trademark. We will continue to develop and nurture brands that are loved for years to come." According to the Japan Patent Office, there are currently some 3,000 registered 3D trademarks. Of these, confectionery products include Meiji Co.'s "Takenoko no Sato" and "Kinoko no Yama" chocolate snacks.
