Steamed Chili Tomato Man Buns Alive!!

No classic rock band knows merchandising better than KISS, and no country is more into commodifying everything than Japan. So, ahead of the group’s 40th anniversary Japan tour, a convenience store chain has marked the event by selling specially made steamed buns called manju that the company says “are based on the image of KISS.”

Photo: AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko

KISS poses with Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z in Tokyo Feb. 21. A convenience store promo very loosely tied to the band’s Japan tour shows KISS can still sell just about anything.

However, since the buns feature no likeness of the band, you have to take the company’s word for it. Circle K Sunkus, the convenience chain in question, started selling the Chili Tomato Man buns on Feb. 24, describing them as “hotter than hell,” the title of an album the group released in 1974.

The buns are cooked with bamboo charcoal that blackens the outer surface, and contain red peppers and jalapeno for a very spicy flavor. “Black on the outside and hot and spicy on the inside,” a spokesman told reporters at a promotional event, indicating that the combination was a reference to the group’s makeup.

The band has never lost its fan base in Japan, which means not only is it easy to sell tickets at premium prices, but gimmicks like the manju buns are guaranteed hits.

Circle K Sunkus is making only 300,000 of them at a cost of about $1.10 each. KISS is also releasing a special 40th anniversary greatest hits collection in Japan that leads off with “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saite Mina,” a collaboration with the most popular female idol band in Japan right now, Momoiro Clover Z. The English language version of the single is called “Samurai Son” with Paul Stanley on vocals.