OMG, I’ve watched this YouTube video all weekend. It’s a compilation of interstitials starring a talking bean that gives out mundane bits of trivia to people who are about to enjoy their moment. Mameshiba was created by Korean Japanese national Kim Sukwon, a copywriter, who came up with this weirdly brilliant characters of talking beans with dog faces. Mameshiba, the word, is actually a Japanese pun, with mame meaning bean in Japanese, and Mameshiba as a toy version of the Shiba Inu.

What I totally love about these series of shorts (they’re not commercials, but were aired on Japanese TV during commercial breaks) is not the cutesy mame itself (although they are creepily cute) but the spotlight on contemporary Japanese life, ranging from the old boss enjoying a dinner with his nervous assistant, to a little girl hanging out with her gruff grand dad to a couple of Ganguro girls sharing makeup tips. It’s all pretty hilarious, in a zen, mundane, kind of way. I’ve been saying the word “Mameshiba….” all weekend, and I’m sure you will too.