The Japanese are widely known for eating a lot of fish, but would you be surprised if you heard that they even eat fish for dessert? Well, taiyaki, which means "grilled sea bream," is a traditional Japanese snack that is made up of red-bean paste inside a fish-shaped crepe. There are various stories about the origin of taiyaki, but some people believe that Tokyo's Naniwaya Souhonten shop invented it in 1909.

Morikazu Kanbe, the nephew of the founder of Naniwaya, made taiyaki for more than 70 years from the age of 15. In 1975, a popular TV variety show for children made a song called "Oyoge! taiyaki-kun (Swim! Ｔaiyaki Boy)". It's a funny song about a taiyaki boy, who' so tired of being grilled every day that he finally dives into the ocean to escape.

The song became a big hit, and is said to have now sold more than 4.5 million copies. It is also said that as the song became popular, taiyaki itself became a big hit, and a lot of people lined up in front of taiyaki shops and stalls. In fact, the owner of the taiyaki stall in this song was modeled after Morikazu Kanbe. More than 30 years after the song's release, Kanbe passed away in May this year at the age of 86.

However, the popularity of taiyaki has not disappeared. In fact, it seems there has been a revival of public interest in taiyaki, as various new kinds have recently appeared. While the traditional taiyaki is usually beige, the new taiyaki is made white using tapioca powder for its dough. Besides this difference, there is also a wide variety of paste flavors now─caramel, chocolate, green tea, and so on. No matter how taiyaki changes, as people's tastes change, it may always remain a popular snack among the Japanese.