Photo by Tokyo Berry / Tokyo Banana. Licensed under Editorial use. Brand packaging comparison; editorial still via Korea Herald coverage; resized for web.
Tokyo Berry Pop-Ups Stall After Shoppers Mistook It for Tokyo Banana
The Korean fruit-mochi brand’s packaging and Tokyo-flavored marketing drew a copycat backlash; department stores are canceling further pop-ups while Grapestone reviews the matter.
August 3, 2026
Shoppers in Seoul lined up for fruit mochi and walked away arguing about a banana cake from Japan. Tokyo Berry, a Korean dessert brand that launched around June 2026, ran busy pop-ups at major department stores including Lotte and Shinsegae. Then social media filled with side-by-side photos of its pastel boxes and Grapestone’s Tokyo Banana packaging. Plenty of people said they thought they were buying a new strawberry line from the Japanese souvenir brand, or a licensed sister product.
By the end of July, retailers were pulling back. A department store official told The Korea Herald that future Tokyo Berry pop-ups had been canceled. Lotte’s Busan main branch told Korea JoongAng Daily it would not host additional events and might end the current one early. Grapestone, which makes Tokyo Banana, said it had shared the issue with the relevant department and was reviewing the details. No lawsuit has been announced.
What people saw on the box
The products themselves are different categories. Tokyo Banana is a banana-shaped sponge cake filled with banana custard, sold since November 1991 as a modern Tokyo omiyage and still a station-and-airport staple. Tokyo Berry sells fresh-fruit mochi. The quarrel is about the wrapper and the story around it.
Critics pointed to the spaced, all-caps English logo, the ribboned fruit illustration in the center, the vertical stamp-style Japanese panel, and the soft pastel gift-box look. Marketing copy that leaned on “the essence of Tokyo” and welcome-to-Korea phrasing that sounded like an arrival from abroad made the confusion worse, according to Korean press. Some food accounts even framed the mochi as hard to find “even in Japan,” JoongAng reported. As the criticism grew, Tokyo Berry privatized most Instagram posts and disabled comments. The company has not issued a public response in the coverage reviewed so far.
A second comparison followed online: some shoppers said the inner paper wrap recalled Hanjungsun, the Korean premium brand known for hanji-wrapped chapssaltteok. That resemblance is still a consumer allegation in the press, not a court finding.
Why the souvenir name travels so far
Tokyo Banana earned its fame by putting the city in the product name and making a soft, room-temperature cake that fits a suitcase. Korean travelers already know the yellow box from trips to Japan, which is why a look-alike strawberry carton lands with such a thud at home. Singapore shoppers can find Tokyo Banana at selected Cold Storage and Don Don Donki counters and online, CNA notes, so the brand’s silhouette travels beyond Narita and Tokyo Station.
Right now the story is still on the retail floor. Department stores are stepping away from new Tokyo Berry pop-ups while Grapestone looks at the packaging. If you are hunting fruit mochi in Seoul this week, ask which brand is actually on the counter. If you want the cake that started the comparison, look for Grapestone’s Tokyo Banana Miitsuketa, the banana custard sponge that has been doing souvenir duty since 1991.