Hachiware’s Ice Cream Pose and Japan’s Bath Toy Tradition

Hachiware Chiikawa Bikkura Tamago Bath Ball Mascot Figure by Bandai

A Manga That Became a Japanese Pop-Culture Staple

Chiikawa — officially Nanka Chiisakute Kawaii Yatsu, meaning “Something Small and Cute” — launched in 2020 as a manga posted on X (formerly Twitter) by artist Nagano. The series follows a cast of soft, round creatures navigating daily life in a world that pairs intensely cute visuals with moments of surreal or quietly unsettling drama. That contrast drove enormous engagement on the platform, and by 2021 and 2022 Chiikawa had become one of the most widely shared pop-culture properties in Japan. A short-format anime adaptation produced by Nihon Animation followed on TV Tokyo from April 2022, moving the franchise from social media into mainstream broadcast.

Hachiware is one of the three central characters, alongside Chiikawa (the protagonist) and Usagi. The name comes from hachiware, a Japanese term for cats with a two-toned split across the face, and the character’s design reflects this directly: the upper head carries a cooler blue-toned coloring against a warmer lower face. Round pink cheek marks, dot eyes, and a small wavy mouth complete the look. In the series, Hachiware tends toward a gentle, slightly timid personality and functions as the protagonist’s closest companion. This figure poses the character holding and eating an ice cream — a moment in keeping with the series’ frequent scenes of characters savoring small, everyday pleasures.

The Bikkura Tamago Format

Bikkura Tamago is a long-running Bandai toy line built around a simple reveal. Each product is an egg-shaped bath ball with a small sealed mascot figure inside. Drop it into warm water, and as the ball dissolves the figure emerges. The name is an informal Japanese expression for surprise, which fits the concept well.

Bandai has produced Bikkura Tamago editions tied to a long list of major franchises — Pretty Cure, Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer), One Piece, and others — and Chiikawa was added to that lineup following the franchise’s breakthrough period around 2022. Unlike gashapon capsule machines or candy-toy (shokugan) products, Bikkura Tamago items are sold individually at retail in Japanese drugstores, supermarkets, and toy shops, not through vending machines.

Why International Collectors Follow This Series

Because Chiikawa built its audience on a global social media platform, it attracted fans outside Japan at the same time it was becoming famous domestically. Followers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea were among the first international audiences, and English-speaking collectors tracking Japanese kawaii culture have adopted “Chiikawa” as a recognizable name. Hachiware, as one of the three main characters, appears consistently across the merchandise spectrum, and the ice cream variant gives this specific figure a clear identity within any Bikkura Tamago set.

Bath products also move through more restricted shipping channels than dry goods, which limits how reliably Bikkura Tamago figures reach overseas buyers through standard retail. For collectors outside Japan, this format is harder to source than comparable gashapon or food-toy releases, and figures that do travel internationally tend to arrive through specialist shops rather than ordinary retail pipelines.