Cute Things From Japan – Sylvanian families

A story. One day a young girl was watching TV and the cutest commercial ever came on. It was cute little miniature animals, all dressed in people clothes but still fuzzy and furry and they had a whole little miniature world. She loved, loved, loved that commercial. And so when it came on again, she dared to ask her Mom if she could get them.

Her Mom said yes! They didn’t have a lot of spending money, and even asking for a toy was a bit out of bounds, but then to ask and actually receive a yes…well, that is the pinnacle of life…

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Cute Things from Japan – Japanese Food

I find Japanese food to be so interesting. It so different from anything I’ve ever eaten, even Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese seem quite different. So it is always interesting to see what is a common Japanese dish or what to order in restaurants. And as is so often the case, their food can be adorable!

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Cute Japanese Style

We love Japan for many reasons, but cute is a big one. They even dress cute. And there are many ways to dress cute. Everyone knows about gothloli – mixing French baroque with little girl knee highs, lots of pink and bows.

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Cute Things from Japan – Paper Crafts

The Japanese are whizzes with paper. Chiyogami for paper crafts; Shojigami for housing fittings; Karakami for sliding panels, clothing and waterproofed raincoats. And they continue to see it as a useful and playful item. Canon is perfect example of that. Look at the brilliant things they have come up with, just with paper and a printer.

I was amazed. I just had to see this card and I was blown away! I had never seen something this wonderful just offered for free with patterns, as if we could all just do it. I have yet to give it a go, I’m a bit nervous it won’t turn out as good as I want it to. And look at this one.

And that is just a drop in the bucket of what they offer. They offer toys that move, that you can make! You can build yourself the Taj Mahal! There is stuff for scrapbookers, art, and all different styles of calendars. You can spend a lot of time, just checking out all the amazing stuff they offer…..free!

My plan is to have my nephew over and build some type of bulldozer or crane or something. It’s going to be a fun way for us to spend time together.

Cute Things from Japan – Poupee Girl

What is too cute, Japanese, fashionable and just a little adictive? Poupee girl! (Poupee means ‘doll’ in French)

This adorable site allows you to create an avatar and then go shopping for her! By uploading pictures of your brand named items you earn ribbons that allow you to go shopping. As if that was not fun enough, you get to suteki (lovely,cool) things by clicking on the things you like, you also get to go into other fashion girls rooms and see what outfits they have put together. It’s a really fun way to get to see Japanese style.

The site itself illustrates the cuteness of Japanese culture. In your room you have a tiny, yellow bird that gives you personal updates, and a little pink pig with a ribbon that updates you on the number of ribbons you have earned.

You have to sign in, and there are a couple rules but it is fairly self explanatory. There are some places that are completely in Japanese, but a lot of it is in English. Many of the names are written in hiragana and so it may be motivating to learn a bit. Careful though, it’s addictive!

Cute Things From Japan – Amigurumi

From Wikipedia

“Amigurumi (lit. Knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include artistic renderings, and inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.

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Cute Places to Visit in Japan

Please welcome my wife Stacey to I Heart Japan!  She’s got a keen eye for all things cute and she’ll be running down the latest trends in kawaii and Japanese crafts.

It doesn’t get much cuter than Hello Kitty. Did you know there is a theme park in Japan dedicated to Hello Kitty! How can you not visit it? (I guess pretty easily, if you didn’t find out about it until you were back home, like me.)

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