Breadtalk AnpanMan

I was going to write about this before but I'm glad I've left it till now because I just discovered something new.

It all started when we had been in Shanghai for a few days and were still staying in our hotel (JinJiang on Maoming S. Road). My mother came and met us and the three of us walked to Huaihai Road. We went to the underground supermarket at the basement of Parkson's department store. At the front of the supermarket there was a Breadtalk store (A Singaporean bakery chain I believe).. Mike got an Anpan Man red bean bun because he was attracted to the smiley face.

Many days passed and Mike was on a quest to find every Breadtalk in Shanghai. I found the list of stores but then he made a discovery. If you don't get there before 3 or 4pm, then all the Anpanman buns are gone! And they don't make anymore after that.

So we are always on a quest for the Anpanman.

Just then I found out that it is actually based on a Japanese cartoon character.

According to wikipedia, Anpanman (アンパンマン) has a head of a bun made by Jam Ojisan. His name comes from the fact that he is a man with a head made of bread (Japanese: pan, a loanword from the Portuguese word meaning "bread") that is filled with bean jam (Japanese: an) called an anpan. His weakness is water or anything that makes his head dirty. He regains his health and strength when Jam Ojisan bakes him a new head and is placed on his shoulders. Anpanman's damaged head, with Xs in his eyes, flies off his shoulders once a new baked head lands. He was created when a shooting star landed in Jam Ojisan's oven while he was baking. He has two special attacks called: An-punch and An-kick. When Anpanman comes across a starving creature or person, he lets the unfortunate creature or person eat part of his head.

Here is more about how Anpanman was born:
http://mboogiedown-japan.blogspot.com

Here is someone else who likes to eat him:
http://www.joelwesleyrose.com/2006_07_01_archive.html

And there is even a flickr group dedicated to him!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/anpanmanland/