Onigiri おにぎり are Japanese rice balls, often triangular and wrapped with seaweed, and usually filled with a salty item such as salmon or pickled vegetables. Onigiri are carried by all convenience stores in Japan as they are portable and filling. Onigiri is a great food for hiking, which helps explain why a family of onigiri are featured in a travel brochure I picked up at a train station.

This adorable rice family strikes me as the perfect combination of Japan’s convenience culture and its kawaii かわいい culture. These sticky grains of rice enjoy spending time with each other: hiking, admiring cultural sights, taking photographs…and practicing cannibalism.

According to Wikipedia, cannibalism is the act or practice of consuming all or part of another individual from the same species. Sadly, our happy onigiri family is so famished from their journey that they descend into cannibalism. Sitting down for a picnic, with lush hills in the distance, the adults and children alike blithely fill their mouths with smaller members of their own species. I won’t go so far as to say that onigiri causes cannibalism, but if it does, you’ve been warned!

See more humor:

• My so-called Tokyo life: Living like a teenager in the world’s greatest city
• The Pungency パンジェンシー
• The cute fire extinguisher かわいい消火器
• What do Japanese people eat? 日本人は何を食べますか？