Gotochi Kitty

Gotochi Kitty are little Hello Kitty charms that can be bought all over Japan. The special catch is that each region of Japan has Kitty charms that are particular to their area (which is what gotochi means). So for example, the Gotochi Kitty charm that represents Tokyo Tower can (ideally) only be bought within Tokyo,…

An obsession verging on madness…

It’s no secret that I love purikura, but this last weekend my obsession reached new heights. My friend Natalie and I spent our holiday weekend in Osaka, where we decided to head to a purikura booth each of the four days we were there. Here are the results.

Product placement #8–Animal crackers

I think I found the Japanese version of US animal crackers.   Obviously they are meant to teach kids the English words for animals. It would be more beneficial for me for them to be in Japanese, but oh well. But the back of the box has all the animals listed in Japanese and English!…

Product placement #6–Usagi roll cake

As you can see I am easily persuaded by cute animals, and this usagi-chan (rabbit) was no exception. I love how his ears emphasize the length of this roll cake. It was pretty delicious, especially considering it was a packaged cake. The center was filled with a really  nice cream.

Did you know Japan likes cute things?

Maybe you’ve never heard of Japan. That might be why you didn’t know Japan likes cute things. I also like cute things, so Japan and I have been getting along quite well so far. One of the cutest places I’ve been so far is KiddyLand, which is a toy store that has basically every cute…