Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2010

Photo by Desirea Camacho

In the TV commercials for Kagome’s new Tomarepi! range, popular transsexual tarento Ai Haruna stars as a giant tomato who comes to the aid of housewives fretting over what to cook for dinner. Haruna appeared in her outlandish garb at a promotional event last month for the line of tomato-based stew and stir-fry sauces, whose name is short for Tomato de kantan watashi no reshipi (“My simple recipe using tomatoes”). She was joined by celebrity cosmetic surgeon Ayako Nishikawa, a newlywed, and the pair whipped up a pork and eggplant dish that was offered to a lucky member of the audience.