Ealier this year, I participated in Expo Tarta’s cupcake contest. Expo Tarta is a Cake Design fair in Madrid, Spain. As I used to live in Japan and felt confident with the culture, I decided to model Cupcakes representing Japanese characters, either real or ficticious :

- Maneki Neko : literally “beckoning cat”, a common Japanese figurine depicting a cat which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.
- Sumo : a competitive full-contact wrestling sport where a wrestler attempts to force another out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet.
- Tanuki : or Japanese raccoon dog. This animal has been significant in Japanese folklore since ancient times. The legendary tanuki is reputed to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but somewhat gullible and absentminded. It is also a common theme in Japanese art, especially statuary.
- Kappa : literally “river-child”, is typically depicted as roughly humanoid in form with scaly, reptilian skin,a carapace and a beak. Kappa are usually seen as mischievous troublemakers or trickster figures. Their pranks range from the relatively innocent, such as loudly passing gas or looking up women’s kimonos, to the malevolent, such as drowning people and animals or kidnapping children.
- Tako : Japanese people love octopus and can be found on almost every menu.
- Geisha : traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance and games.

I won the first prize with those six cupcakes !

I hope you enjoyed ! Feel free to visit my blog : http://uncupcakeladdition.blogspot.fr/ or to join me on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/un.cupcake.l.addition

Sébastien Haramendy.