YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--Grossed out but kinda like it? Welcome to the genre of “kimokawaii,” or creepy-cute.

Sweets shaped like bee larvae look wiggly and weird. Whoa! Creepy-cute.

A chocolate rhinoceros beetle larva has curled up to snooze. That’s definitely creepy-cute.

And best of all? They’re not insects but are made of caramel or sweet bean jam.

The insect sweets line a display case at a confectionery shop in this northeastern city.

Orders are pouring in from across Japan for the unusual treats. Not only is the appearance striking, but the sweets are also lifelike, cute and tasty all at once.

The products are made and sold by Komatsuya Honten, a confectionery store in Yokote, Akita Prefecture.

They are the brainchild of Sadayoshi Komatsu, 73, the third-generation proprietor of the shop. But the story begins long before Komatsu became the confectioner known for creepy-cute.

FAMILY BUSINESS

The store was founded by Komatsu’s grandfather in 1916. It started out as a Japanese-style confectionery shore that prided itself on rice crackers.

It switched to mainly Western-style sweets after it began to win a reputation for iced durian. Komatsu’s father, who also ran the shop, first ate durian in the South Pacific islands during World War II.

Then the insects came in.

In 2002 the Yokote city authorities began organizing an insect exhibition during the summer vacation for families with children.

The centerpiece was a giveaway of Japanese rhinoceros beetles as pets, which young city officials went out to catch.

Children stood in a long line in the following year, each hoping to get a rhinoceros beetle.

The event became more and more popular. But the rhinoceros beetles became harder to find, so in 2006, city officials asked Komatsu to make sweets as substitutes.

Komatsu has a soft spot for insects. He consented readily.

His first experiment was to make a chocolate rhinoceros beetle. But its fragile legs would snap every time.

With the delivery date less than a month away, Komatsu was growing anxious.

He was at his wit’s end until one day he found a solution. It was over a drink in a bar.

BAR SNACKS

Komatsu put a piece of chocolate and dried cuttlefish in his mouth at the same time. Both had been served as snacks with his drink.

He found it quite a good combination.

So he split the dried cuttlefish into fine slivers and coated them with chocolate. He found that the cuttlefish strengthened the chocolate. It didn’t snap.

Larvae were easier. They have short legs and require no complicated processes to model.

Komatsu tried making a larva, complete with segments like those on the real thing. It worked.

In fact, it was so lifelike, he reflected when delivering the sweets, that he should sell it from the shop.

But his wife, Mayumi, disagreed. She called the product “creepy” and “shameful,” and opposed his idea.

The candy insects went on sale solely by mail order.

But that was enough. Creepy-cute was in demand. A buzz grew for the sweet treats, and the shop was flooded with orders from all around Japan.

Komatsu later began making adult rhinoceros and stag beetles. He made their horns and mandibles with slivers of chocolate-coated orange peel.

Demand was huge. The 10,000 units he had prepared for Valentine’s Day the next year were sold out, and he could not keep up with orders. He was once suspected of fraud by the prefectural police when he failed to meet a delivery deadline.

Komatsu cashed in, that Valentine’s Day. He earned 12 million yen ($84,000) in sales for that event alone.

LEGACY

Mayumi died from cancer at around that time. His wife had been a muse to him in that he had worked hard to develop new products to impress her.

His newer products include the “Hachinoko Mozomozo” (Creepy bee larva), a caramel product, and the bright blue and green “Imomushi Gorogoro” (Rolling caterpillar), made of bean jam.

He tries to make them lifelike but adds a touch of cuteness with round curves and fun coloring.

Take a fork to a “Hachinosu Cake” (Beehive cake), and you’ll find inside translucent bee larvae made of agar. They look so real that you might hesitate before eating one.

The product sells out at once when it is put in the storefront.

Mail-order sales of the insect sweets is supervised by Hiroaki, Komatsu’s 36-year-old second son and the fourth-generation proprietor. Hiroaki wanted to be a musician but after living in Tokyo for a while he returned home to the family business when he was 28.

“Confectionery is no different from music in that both are about pleasing customers,” Hiroaki said. “You don’t have to be in a big city to take your chances in this internet age.”

Komatsu, the father, said: “What I want to do is make sweets that customers are startled to see and are startled when they eat them.”

Komatsu is currently developing a snail using translucent agar. A prototype trembled in a case when it was given a jolt.

He appears to have an inexhaustible appetite for creativity.