Cheese Squishy 
Jellyfish Squishy 
Jumbo Lips Squishy 
Mummy Squishy 
Pop-Eye Rhino 
Salted Butter Stick 
Pink Lychee 
The short version
The Japanese squishy is where the soft, slow-rising, often scented toy most people picture got its start. One Tokyo maker, Bloom (株式会社ブルーム), told an interviewer in 2019 that it began making squishies in 2002 by taking the hard polyurethane animal figures sold abroad, making them much softer and adding a scent. Squishies in Japan went through a phone-strap craze in the late 2000s before YouTube carried them overseas from around 2014. In Japanese they are called スクイーズ (sukuīzu), from the English “squeeze”.
Below is that timeline with its sources, what “Japanese squishy” can mean when you shop now, and a plain note on where our own squishies fit.
A timeline of squishies in Japan
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Bloom is founded in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo | 2021 business report on the company’s court filing |
| 2002 | Bloom starts making soft polyurethane squishies; early designs include a banana and a peach | Daily Portal Z interview with a Bloom designer, March 2019 |
| 2007–2009 | Squishies sold as phone straps have a big boom and get TV coverage | Same interview |
| ~2014 | Squishies trend among elementary and junior-high school girls; overseas YouTubers start featuring them and demand from abroad jumps | Same interview; Bloom’s own website |
| June 2021 | After the boom fades and COVID adds to the strain, Bloom files for civil rehabilitation at the Tokyo District Court, with its stores consolidated to Harajuku | 2021 business report |
| 2026 | The iBloom official online shop ranks first in US Google results for “japanese squishy” | DataForSEO results pulled for this article, September 2026 |
Sources: the Daily Portal Z interview (Japanese), Bloom’s welcome page (Japanese), and the 2021 report on Bloom’s filing (Japanese).
Two details in that record are easy to miss. First, the designer said polyurethane toys were not familiar in Japan before this, so the soft squishy was an adaptation of a harder foreign toy rather than a Japanese invention from scratch. Second, the 2021 report describes Bloom’s main products as soft, low-rebound polyurethane and elastomer toys. The Japanese term there, 低反発 (“low rebound”), describes the same thing English listings call slow-rising.
We found no source that settles who made the very first soft squishy anywhere, so we are not claiming one. Bloom’s account is the earliest dated maker history we could verify.
What squishies are called in Japan
The usual Japanese word is スクイーズ, a loanword from “squeeze”. The Bloom designer said the word became a general name for soft toys of this kind, helped along by Bloom’s own products. Bloom’s website describes them as goods you enjoy by touch, with a fluffy, mochi-like feel.
So if you search Japanese shops or social media, try スクイーズ rather than the English “squishy”.
Why so many of them look like food
The early Bloom designs in the interview were fruit, and the company’s own site describes its marshmallow squishy line as aiming for marshmallow-like softness with a pleasant scent. Food shapes suit the toy: a bun, a slice of bread or a peach already looks soft, so the squeeze matches what your eye expects.
That habit carried over into squishies made everywhere. Bakery items are a good example. Our kawaii bakery squishy mix ($12) includes a square toast with a cartoon face, a ridged croissant, a cream swirl and a cross-hatched melon-pan, the sweet bun sold in Japanese bakeries. Round buns and dumplings are another family, like the pleated steamer bao ($12) or the pastel kawaii mochi squishy ($12) with bows, hoods and a beret.
What “Japanese squishy” means when you shop now
The phrase gets used in three different ways, and it helps to know which one a seller means.
- Made or licensed by a Japanese brand. If that is what you want, buy from the brand or a retailer that says it stocks that brand. In the September 2026 search results we pulled, the iBloom official shop and several Japan-focused stores sit near the top.
- Designed in the Japanese kawaii style. Small faces, blush marks, pastel colours, bakery and sweets shapes. Many sellers use “kawaii” for this look, whoever makes the toy.
- A search word. A title that says “Japanese” is not the same as a named brand or a stated country of origin. If origin matters to you, look for those two things rather than the adjective.
Where our squishies fit
To be direct about our own catalog: of the 1,076 products active in our shop when we checked for this article, none claims to be made in Japan or to come from a Japanese brand. 87 of them use the word “kawaii”, which describes the look, not the origin.
If the style is what you are after, our character squishies, food squishies and mochi squishies collections are where the kawaii faces and bakery shapes are. If you want a squishy from a Japanese maker, go to that maker.
FAQ
What are squishies called in Japan?
スクイーズ (sukuīzu), a loanword from the English “squeeze”. According to a Bloom designer, it became the general word for this kind of soft toy.
Who made the first Japanese squishy?
We could not verify a single “first”. The earliest dated account we found is from the Tokyo maker Bloom, which says it started making soft, scented polyurethane squishies in 2002 by softening the hard foam figures sold overseas.
Are squishies in Japan still popular?
The 2021 report on Bloom’s court filing says the squishy boom had ended and sales fell. The brand’s official online shop was still ranking first for “japanese squishy” in US search results in September 2026.
Are your squishies Japanese squishies?
No. None of our active listings claims Japanese manufacture or a Japanese brand. Many are in the kawaii style associated with Japanese squishies, and our listings say “kawaii” to describe that look.
