Mameshiba

Mameshiba (豆しば) is a Japanese merchandise franchise created by copywriter and Korean Japanese national Kim Sukwon. The Mameshiba are different varieties of beans (and other legumes and nuts) that have dog-like faces and answer a trivia question. The name is a pun based on the Japanese word for "bean", mame (豆); the toy version of the Shiba Inu, called mameshiba (豆柴); and the Japanese word for "trivia", mamechishiki (豆知識, literally "beans of knowledge"). Mameshiba became popular in 2008 through a series of animated interstitials produced by Dentsu that were sold to Japanese television networks to air instead of commercials.