On 'Sweet Potato Day,' Matsuya's Official Account Names Shkmeruli — Already Discontinued

At 11:50 a.m. on October 13, 2026, Matsuya’s official X account (@matsuya_foods) published a post titled “Today, October 13, Is Sweet Potato Day.” The post asked readers what sweet potato dish they’d like to eat, and the account manager’s own top pick was Shkmeruli, a revival menu item that uses sweet potato as an ingredient. Shkmeruli, however, ended sales on June 30, 2026, meaning that as of this post it has been unavailable at stores for roughly three and a half months.

The post read as follows.

Today, October 13, is “Sweet Potato Day” ( ¯꒳¯ ) Sweet potatoes can be enjoyed in all kinds of ways, in Japanese dishes and sweets alike, but for me, “Shkmeruli” is still what comes to mind 🤤 What sweet potato dish do you want to eat? Let us know in the comments! 🍠

The attached image shows Macky and Yakky side by side against a backdrop of sweet potatoes with purple skin and yellow flesh. In a thought bubble above one of them is a photo of Shkmeruli Hot Pot served in a stone pot, illustrating the same association made in the text. On the right is the sweet potato wordplay “Sweeter than chestnut (nine ri) — by four more ri, thirteen ri,” along with today’s date, “13.” Sweet Potato Day falls on October 13 because of the sweet potato’s alternate name, “thirteen ri.”

The Line That Connects Sweet Potato and Shkmeruli

Matsuya currently has no menu item built around sweet potato itself, but Shkmeruli is the one dish that uses it as an ingredient. In the official announcement for its worldwide simultaneous launch during the June 2026 60th Founding Anniversary commemoration, Shkmeruli was described as featuring “sweet, melt-in-your-mouth sweet potato, gooey cheese, and juicy chicken, all wrapped in the signature mellow richness of White Sauce.” Sweet potato was also explicitly listed as an ingredient when the dish won the Japan Food Selection Grand Prix in 2024 and in the January 2025 announcement of its frozen home-use version, so the account manager’s association is grounded in the dish’s actual ingredients.

A Flagship Menu Item That Won Two Revival General Elections in a Row

Shkmeruli has won Matsuya’s Revival Menu General Election twice in a row. It first appeared in January 2020, won the second General Election that same year, and was revived in January 2021. It also took first place in the third General Election held in 2023, and a late-January 2024 announcement described it as “the popular menu item that won first place twice in a row, earning around 50,000 votes,” bringing it back again in February 2024. In June 2024, it won the Grand Prix at the Japan Food Selection, and in January 2025 it was turned into a frozen food for home use for the first time.

Already Discontinued by the Time of the Post

The Shkmeruli named in this post — the Shkmeruli Hot Pot Set Meal, Shkmeruli Hot Pot Rice Set, Shkmeruli Set Meal, and Shkmeruli Rice Set — made a limited-time comeback as part of the worldwide simultaneous launch marking the 60th Founding Anniversary on June 16, 2026, but all four items were discontinued on June 30, 2026. The sales period lasted only about two weeks, and as of today it has been off the menu for roughly three and a half months. By contrast, the “Tofu Day” post using the same “X Day” format, published 11 days earlier on October 2, named the Black Mapo Tofu Set Meal, which is currently on sale — this time, the item named has already been discontinued.

An Ongoing Exchange with the Ambassador of Georgia to Japan

Shkmeruli has repeatedly become a topic of exchange with Teimuraz Lezhava, Ambassador of Georgia to Japan. On June 9, 2026, just before the 60th anniversary revival, a Shkmeruli poster was put up at the embassy, and on September 23 the Ambassador posted, “Could someone please make Shkmeruli Ramen?” Matsuya’s official account replied, “Certainly. Please wait a little while.” As of today, however, “Shkmeruli Ramen” has yet to appear as an actual product.

A Standard Format for Commemorative-Day Posts

Posts in the format “Today, Month Day, is ‘X Day’ ( ¯꒳¯ )” have been repeated 19 times, including today’s, since July 7, 2026. The template pairs a date, the name of the commemorative day, and the emoticon with a tie-in to Matsuya and a question for readers, and recent examples include October 2’s “Tofu Day,” September 29’s “Beckoning Cat Day,” and September 23’s “Autumn Equinox Day.” The closing question, “What X dish do you want to eat? Let us know in the comments,” is the same recurring structure used for posts like Italian Cuisine Day and Tanabata.