IN A GLASS CAGE OF EMOTION

On my bulletin board, off a clear, shiny pin, hangs a green rubber bean pod. Gracefully portioned into three sections, it even comes with its own leaf-like placard, printed with place of make and maker (China and Bandai, incidentally). When you give any section a gentle squeeze, an impossibly delicious looking plastic bean will rear its roundness and beam. It's so inexplicably stupid delightful, you beam back, thinking, "how stupid delightful!" and then you squeeze upon the one rogue bean marked with a silly face, and the stupidity delight becomes absolute.

This is an example of a the kind of gag toy which graces convenience stores East Asia-wide and which members of my family find irresistible. True story: during a visit a few years ago, my grandmother walked into her nephew's 7eleven in Taiwan and walked out with 2 tea eggs and 5 of these (I'm pretty sure the store's entire stock). One hangs off a designer bag she carries from time to time.