The year was 2014: everyone started using the word “fleek” and the music world mourned the loss of Gwar founding member Oderus Urungus. This was also the year that Kanetetsu Delica Foods launched their Hobo Kani (Almost Crab) imitation crab sticks.
These sticks of fish meat with the texture and aroma of crab would go on to sell 70 million units nationwide, and as a symbol of thanks, Kanetetsu Delica has built a shrine in its honor.
Guys literally making new mythology here:
The shrine features a large statue of a crab eating an imitation crab stick, in a depiction of the god Hobo Kani Sama. According to legends passed down from generation to generation over dozens of weeks, a snow crab in the distant northern seas saw a commercial for Hobo Kani.
The crab then set out on a long journey in search of it. This trek led it to Kanetetsu Delica HQ where it found a single imitation crab stick.
The snow crab lifted the stick into the air, and in that moment a bond that transcends space and time was forged. These two souls committed to bringing happiness merged to form the deity Hobo Kani Sama. Their union symbolizes that the perfect and imperfect are but two sides of the same coin.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Japanese word for crab, “kani,” and word for god, “kami,” are “almost,” the same for a pun as delicious as a mock crab omelet.