How Is This a Thing?

This art is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

It began when I peeled a banana and thought it might be interesting to carve a face into the fruit.

To create these fruity masterpieces, the only tools Keisuke uses are bananas, toothpicks, and a spoon. He uses the spoon to prime the banana by smoothing its surface and then does the majority of the actual sculpt work with toothpicks. He also mentions that each of his sculptures is completed within 30 minutes. If he takes too long, the banana will begin to brown and the sculpture will be ruined. After finishing each creation, he takes pictures of them to upload on the Japanese art site Pixiv. And after that, he eats them.

Behold! The fabled potassium breathing dragon of legend.

Keisuke Yamada: humble electrician by day – banana sculpting magician by night. At 24 years old, he’s practically a banana superhero. Keisuke has also gained a strong number of followers online and says he gets new ideas and inspiration from his fans on a regular basis.

The first one was the face of someone with a smile. I was surprised by how many people liked it so then I just started making more.

Keisuke’s strange hobby has snowballed into a full-blown internet sensation. And from the looks of things, he couldn’t be happier.

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In the above video they introduce Keisuke to the audience and describe the process he follows to sculpt his mighty banana creations. The audience seems pretty impressed. He also creates a “self portrait” as well as Zippei, NTV’s doggie mascot.

Posted below are some of my favorites from Keisuke but a complete gallery of his work can be found here on his Pixiv page.

Le royal wedding.

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

All he needs now is a banana hammock.

D’oh!

The mighty banana god himself.

Keisuke says he looks forward to making many more sculptures in the future and I for one look forward to seeing them.

So, is this banana boy a real artist or are these mini-sculptures but a mere hobby? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Ever since I found out Japan got its first banana vending machine, I’ve been chomping at the bit banana for a conveniently placed second banana vending machine, preferably someplace I didn’t have to fly an airplane to get to.

Actually, I don’t care that much, but I did think it was pretty sweet that Japan has banana vending machines (two, now) allowing anyone to get a banana whenever the please… as long as they live near one of the two banana vending machines in existence.

Banana Vending Machine, Fukuoka

A little under a year ago, Shibuya (in Tokyo) got Japan’s first (maybe the World’s first?) banana vending machine. Apparently it was a success (selling to around 60-80 people per day), so they decided to put another banana vending machine up really far away (in Fukuoka). If you want to visit this vending machine, you can find it at 西鉄福岡天神駅 (Nishitetsu Fukuoka Tenjin Station), specifically on the North side (so if you live in Fukuoka, and love bananas, and don’t like grocery stores, you should check it out).

Click on this image to go to here

If you’re looking to get your hands on one of these bad boys, just know that it’ll cost you… not very much. To buy a single banana, it’s 130 yen (convert). To buy an entire bunch of bananas, that’ll cost you 390 yen (convert). It’s slightly more expensive than grocery prices, but think about the convenience of getting a banana when you need one and you happen to be at this particular station.

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Someone made a video…

In order to keep things fresh, the bananas are kept at a comfortable 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius), and a banana man comes three times a week to restock / pull anything too old to sell.

When you’ve finished eating your banana, there’s even special bins for you to throw them into (there’s special bins for everything garbage related in Japan, isn’t there?).

I’m sure this has cut down on very comedic, sound-effect laden instances of people slipping very painfully on banana peels while chasing a cartoon character.

Anyways, enjoy your bananas while you can, or you might get a visit from the very terrifying Dole Man.

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I’m going to eat a banana now.

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