Photo/Illutration A video gives directions on how to create Saiundo's animal-shaped traditional cakes. (From YouTube)

MATSUE--For those stuck at home with little to do, a long-established confectionery maker here has come up with a novel approach to help kill the time.

The company, called Saiundo, developed a kit that allows people to create traditional Japanese-style cakes in the shape of cute animals.

It is being promoted as a way to spread "the appeal of Japanese-style confections from Matsue to other parts of Japan," according to the Saiundo pastry cook who developed the kit.

The idea was born out of calls by local governments for residents to avoid travelling beyond prefectural borders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sweets set consists of a finished cake sample with directions on how to create six kinds of animals, such as the panda, koala and penguin, as well as the ingredients for customers to make an additional two by themselves.

Saiundo posted a video showing a confectioner making the cakes on YouTube, so anyone can easily create them using only a straw, spoon and other basic utensils found in any ordinary kitchen.

Ikuo Karino, a sweets chef at Saiundo who developed the kit, explained the decision to model the traditional cakes in the set after cute creatures.

"Lovely animal designs were rarely adopted, but we chose them because we want people of all generations, from children to the elderly, to enjoy making cakes," Karino said. "It really doesn't matter much if one is unable to create ones as fine as the sample. The main thing is for people to have fun making sweets."

The boxed kit retails for a tax inclusive price of 1,296 yen ($12) on Saiundo's shopping site at (https://netshop.saiundo.co.jp/). There is an additional charge for frozen delivery. How to cook cakes can also be viewed on the Web page.

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