The device known as shoyu-tai (or soy-sauce snapper in Japanese) was invented in 1954 by Teruo Watanabe, the founder of Osaka-based company Asahi Sogyo, according to a report from Japan’s Radio Kansai.
It was then common for glass and ceramic containers to be used but the advent of cheap industrial plastics allowed the creation of a small polyethylene container in the shape of a fish, officially named the “Lunch Charm”.
The invention quickly spread around Japan and eventually worldwide, and it is estimated that billions have been produced.
It also plays into the conservative point of view that everybody who gives a shit about the biosphere is just as ignorant as they are, and that the reasons for taking away their plastic straws and grocery bags have to do with evil communist america-destruction rather than preventing things like micro plastics in the organs of developing fetuses and global climate change.
Ignorance and pretending a problem doesn’t exist is like step 0 of most conservative policies.