金太郎飴

きんたろうあめ
noun
Kintaro candy; all alike
foodcultureidiom
1. Kintaro candy; patterned candy stick
A traditional candy drawn out into a long rod with a face worked through its whole length, so that every slice shows the same picture of the folk hero 金太郎(きんたろう).
金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)を買(か)った。
I bought some Kintaro candy.
金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)はどこを切(き)っても同(おな)じ顔(かお)が出(で)る。
No matter where you cut Kintaro candy, the same face appears.
昔(むかし)ながらの作(つく)り方(かた)で金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)を作(つく)っている店(みせ)が、今(いま)も下町(したまち)に残(のこ)っている。
A shop that still makes Kintaro candy the old-fashioned way remains in the old downtown.
2. all alike; cookie-cutter; indistinguishable
Used figuratively of people, products, or plans that are interchangeable because they were all turned out to one pattern. Usually critical.
どの企画(きかく)も金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)だ。
Every one of these proposals is cut from the same mold.
金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)のような答(こた)えばかりで、面白(おもしろ)みがない。
The answers are all cookie-cutter and there is nothing interesting in them.
同(おな)じ研修(けんしゅう)を受(う)けさせるだけでは、金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)式(しき)の社員(しゃいん)しか育(そだ)たない。
If all you do is put them through the same training, you will only produce cookie-cutter employees.

The candy is made by building a picture out of coloured sugar in a thick cylinder and then stretching it thin, so the design survives at every point along the rod.

Common collocations

  • 金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)式(しき): cookie-cutter (style)
  • 金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ)のような: all alike, interchangeable
  • どこを切(き)っても金太郎飴(きんたろうあめ): the same whichever part you look at

Usage

Sense 2 is far more common in newspapers and business writing than sense 1, and is nearly always a complaint about a lack of individuality.

general
Added 2026.8.2 0:17 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02
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