When Aerosmith announced their farewell tour after half a century of belting out rock hits, fans in Japan were disappointed to learn that they didn’t make the cut. But the Boston-based band may have done the next best thing: a pastry in the shape of a fish.
Known as taiyaki, the beloved Japanese treat is usually stuffed with red-bean paste and served hot. Sales of the limited Aerosmith-edition snacks with apple filling start Saturday at 38 Naruto Taiyaki Honpo shops across the country, at ¥300 apiece.
The collaboration came complete with news releases by the franchise and Universal Music Japan, a PDF listing the shops and a customized paper bag for the sweets. As part of a promotional campaign for the band’s latest greatest hits album, 10 people posting “#Aerosmithtaiyaki” (in Japanese) will win a limited-edition towels.
The odd relationship between the rock band known for “Sweet Emotion,” “Walk This Way” and other songs began when frontman Steven Tyler, 75, discovered taiyaki, which translates as “grilled snapper,” on a trip to Japan, according to the release.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Steven Tyler (@iamstevent)
Joe Perry, Aerosmith’s lead guitarist, apparently shares the vocalist’s enthusiasm, calling the fish-shaped pastry “perfect food.”
Aerosmith’s global tour was paused in late September after Tyler damaged his larynx during a performance earlier that month. The taiyaki promotion lasts through mid-December, or until the apple filling runs out, according to Naruto Taiyaki Honpo.
There was no word on whether Aerosmith would cover the hit song “Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun,” a hit song by Masato Shimon from 1975 (just five years after Aerosmith was founded) about a fictional taiyaki that escapes the hot griddle to swim in the sea, only to be caught and eaten.
(Updates with taiyaki detail. A previous version of the article corrected the Japanese artist’s name in the last paragraph.)
