This guy loves his mushrooms

The matsutake mushroom is considered a delicacy in Japan. It is known for its powerful flavor, distinct spicy odor, and its high price. However, if you look up matsutake (松茸) on YouTube you don’t just get food related videos. You also get plenty of videos featuring a very suspicious looking matsutake squeeze toy.

Due in large part to its “interesting” appearance, this squishy toy, often called a matsutake squeeze, has been the focus of quite a few videos on YouTube over the course of the past several months. If you’re unsure what is so “interesting” about this squeeze toy’s appearance, just go ahead and take a good look at either the picture at the top or the one below. Had you not known that this was supposed to be a mushroom, is that what you would have assumed it is?

Girls love mushrooms too!

These matsutake videos typically feature Japanese YouTubers playing matsutake squeeze crane games in order to try and win one for themselves. The latest one of these silly videos just came out last week (Feb. 24), and features a popular Japanese Youtuber named PDS, at a Japanese arcade trying to get his hands on one of these squishy things.

The video below shows PDS winning a total of two matsutake squeeze toys in only three tries (100 yen per try). Then, after he gets the second one he has an interesting exchange with the cameraman. During the exchange he reveals that he read on the internet that if you hit your “matsutake” repeatedly against a wall it makes it stronger and also helps it “last longer.” Who knew mushrooms had stamina issues?

This next video, which was released on February 8th, shows two girls, you guessed it, playing a matsutake squeeze crane game. However, unlike the first video, this one ends with the two girls freezing and cutting open one of these little mushrooms. Also, it should be noted that these girls don’t make any mention whatsoever of the matsutake squeeze’s interesting appearance. They’re just having some good clean mushroom themed fun.

If you’d just like to see the girls cutting the matsutake in half then skip to 4:24. Guys, remember, it’s only a mushroom, no more, no less.

As if that wasn’t enough, this next video shows someone cutting open an unfrozen matsutake squeeze. If you like watching sticky goo shoot out of mushrooms, then this is the video for you.





If you really want one of these but you’d rather not run the risk of wasting a bunch of money trying to get one via a crane game, then you should just go ahead and get one from the Japanese Amazon site (click here). Each of these stretchy mushrooms costs 768 yen (US6.74) plus shipping. Perhaps a tad bit pricey for some people but just imagine all the “stress relief” you’d get from having one of these on your desk at work. And on top of that, you’ll be the talk of the office once your coworkers notice your new matsutake. When you think about it that way, 7 dollars ends up being quite the bargain.

And since it always pays to read the reviews before you buy anything online, here’s translations of some of the more amusing customer reviews for this product. Enjoy.