In recent years, it has become common for foreign cuisine to be available in Japan, and conversely, for Japanese cuisine to make its way overseas. Amid this, a post has become a hot topic on social media: "A certain food familiar to Japanese people is making its way overseas!"

The packaging of natto I bought at a wholesale supermarket had a map of India on it, so I thought, wow, they've expanded into India too, but it was actually a map of Hokkaido.

Quoted from @yokuraki's post

The post was made by Kuraki-san, who lives in Vietnam. He says he bought the natto at a Gyomu Supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It's surprising to learn that a Japanese Gyomu Supermarket has expanded into Vietnam!

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (left side of image)

When you compare it with a map of India, you can see that the shape of the inverted package and India are indeed very similar. The post has received over 120,000 likes, with comments such as "I couldn't help but laugh" and "Even Indians would be surprised."

We spoke to the poster, Kuraki-san.

Which manufacturer is this natto?

Looking at the image of the package, you can see the words "Made with 100% Hokkaido soybeans." I see, that's why the shape of Hokkaido is on the package.

By the way, to commemorate the buzz, Kuraki-san had natto curry made with "Indian natto" for lunch that day. This time it's definitely Indian x natto...!

Since it was the biggest buzz ever, I had curry🍛 and "Indian natto" from Gyomu Super for lunch.

Quoted from @yokuraki's post

In the reactions on social media, many people couldn't help but laugh at the similarity between Hokkaido and India, and even those who were good at geography were surprised, saying, "This is India." In the "similar" series, we also received information that the beach in Da Nang, Vietnam and the beach in Hakodate look very similar. Even when they showed the photos to local students, they couldn't tell the difference. The world is connected in mysterious ways.

By the way, has natto actually made its way to India? Apparently India is the fifth largest producer of soybeans in the world (2019 data), and apparently people make something similar to natto at home by wrapping soybeans in leaves and fermenting them. Japanese natto seems to be more stringy, but it seems that they share the same fermentation process using natto bacteria.

The picture diary that Kuraki posts every night was a picture diary about natto to commemorate the buzz. The heartwarming illustration is lovely.

Tuesday, December 12th: I know I'm being persistent, but since this is a diary, I'll be talking about natto again. This is the natto from the most buzz I've ever seen, "The natto packaging at Gyomu Super looks like India." Since this was the biggest event of the day, I chose this as the subject. Just today, it received 3.7 million views and 100,000 likes. #Vietnam #Picture diary #Gouche

Quoted from @yokuraki's post

It was a post that made me chuckle and made me want to share it across the ocean!