Mameshiba (franchise)

Mameshiba (豆しば) is a Japanese merchandise franchise created by copywriter and Korean Japanese national Kim Sukwon. The Mameshiba are different varieties of beans (and other legumes and nuts) that have dog-like faces and answer a trivia question. The name is a pun based on the Japanese word for "bean", mame (豆); the toy version of the Shiba Inu, called mameshiba (豆柴); and the Japanese word for "trivia", mamechishiki (豆知識, literally "beans of knowledge").

Mameshiba became popular in 2008 through a series of animated interstitials produced by Dentsu that were sold to Japanese television networks to air instead of commercials.^[1] Their popularity in Japan and Asia eventually led to their release in the United States via Viz Media, Hot Topic, and some Mameshiba are sold at FYE. They were famous in France thanks to the now-defunct television network Nolife.