sazae-san food gag (meme)

A meme wherein a character appears dancing in a split and hollowed out object (usually a fruit, vegetable, or other food), standing in the bottom half, and holding the upper half over their head in a "\o/" sort of pose.

This is parodying the end of the opening sequence of the long-running anime Sazae-san, which since April 1971 has featured Fuguta Sazae's cat Tama popping out of an fruit and dancing in this manner. She and her whole family would also do so.

The featured foods would also vary over time and with the seasons (e.g. a tomato and peewah for spring; watermelon and melon for summer; persimmon and chestnut for autumn; and an apple and mikan for winter). An irregular version of the gag where Tama pops out early has been dubbed "フライングタマ" / "Flying Tama" in Japan.

An example of this gag in the OP with the family popping out of an apple and Tama popping out of a mikan can be seen here. An example from April 1971 before the standardized seasonal fruit were set can be seen here, with Tama and the family both popping out of strawberries.

External links

• An article describing the Opening Gag (in Japanese)
• Initial appearance of the 'Flying Tama' variant of the gag in the Sazae-san opening

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