My Japanese Treasures

 What's the point of going on a trip if you don't bring back a few treasures?

I bought a lot of gifts for my family.  Every time I bought something special, there was a box to go with it.  My little duffel bag was packed full, mainly with gifts.  I did buy a few Kokeshi dolls on Enoshima, which I collect.  And the Mickey Mouse bowl came from Tokyo Disney Sea.

 I found these cute toys on Enoshima as well.  I love this Hello Kitty, and the little bunny under Autumn leafs represent the fact that I visited in October.

 I got these from the shrines I visited.

 And this Snoopy came from a character shop.  I love how popular Snoopy is in Japan.  I saw Snoopy goodies and items everywhere I visited.

 Kiki's Delivery Service playing cards :0)

 And I found this really cool charm on the Tokyo Skytree.

This is my favorite item I bought.

The interesting thing about Tokyo was how every place I visited offered to wrap each individual item I was gifting in a big.  They simply asked "gift?" and away they went, which made gifting very nice and special, only I had to open each bag to know what was inside.  A couple stores even gave me extra bags with sealing stickers.

And this is it!  The last of my Japan posts!

Snoopy Dance :0)

Hello Kitty's a WHAT??!! My Thoughts

 What do you think when you see this cute little plush?

Hint, the answer is not a cat.

Hello Kitty is a human girl . . .

Human.

(Edit: My friend sent me a link to a blog post entitled "Don't Be Silly, Hello Kitty is a Cat."  Good read.  Apparently she isn't Human, and that saying she's not a cat is going too far.  Makes me feel better.) 

Apparently because she doesn't crawl around on all fours.

"Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She's never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature."

That's what Christine Yano was told when Sanrio fact checked her paper.

"It is a 100-percent personified character.  The design takes the motif of a cat, but there is no element of a cat in Hello Kitty's setting." This is what a Sanrio spokesman told AFP.

And there's no element of Duck in Daffy, just saying.

Apparently it's to make Kitty, aka Kitty White, her true name, more "friendly."

So she takes on the appearance of a cat, though she isn't a cat, so she can be more relatable?  More likable?  More Kawaii (cute)?

As if, this whole time, we haven't seen the real Kitty White who's from England?  Who, by the way, has a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty.

We've been presented with a false reality for marketing sake.

It's like they believe people couldn't simply buy the idea of a talking animal. 

Or they created a back story and character and then realized it would never sale.  Enter the twilight zone!!  We've been watching a little girls imaginings.  Her version of reality, it seems.  Or a presentation of her reality with costumes.  Or just a presentation of a false reality painted over with talking cats.

It's not real.

It never was.

So, after much thought, I can choose to accept this new attention ploy from Sanrio, or I can continue seeing Kitty the way I always have, as a cute little cat.

Because, when you get down to it, Mickey Mouse doesn't crawl on all fours, has a pet dog (Pluto) and a best friend who's also a dog (Goofy).

I'm cool with that.

The Ever Popular Hello Kitty

I guess this is the post where I admit I haven't grown up . . . 

Right before Christmas a dear Japanese family friend sent my Mom the above Hello Kitty on the left.  It was an incredible, most unexpected surprise.  The Hello Kitty on the right I got several years ago at a Sanrio store in the Mall. 

My first experience with Hello Kitty was in the first grade at Christmas.  I got a Hello Kitty backpack full of school supplies.  That day I became a fan, and that backpack went everywhere.

Now, I'm no fanatic or anything, but I do have a few token items I really enjoy, such as the original Hello Kitty perfume by Sephora.  It's fruity, yet sophisticated.  Honestly, Sephora has quite a collection of nice beauty products for us older fans.  And a few years ago MAC did a Hello Kitty cosmetics line.  

It almost seems like she's more popular now then when I was a kid.  She's everywhere, literally, and I get the feeling she ain't going away anytime soon.

It's kinda funny but my Mom, who didn't know I was already planning to write on this subject, got me the Honey Day gift below.  (A honey day gift is a gift you give a friend, family member, etc, on a day other then a holiday.)

Fun, sweet, and cute, she never gets old. 

On the Las Vegas Strip

(Yoshi in Las Vegas)

Last Spring I visited Las Vegas with my family, took all these pictures to blog about, and then never blogged about it!  Well, I did talk about Serendipity 3 and freaking out on top of the Stratosphere (which I rightfully earned), but I want to share more of the stuff I gathered.  Next week I'll be putting up the rest of the posts.  I'm reviewing the movie Skyfall tomorrow :0)

Luigi and Mario!  Come on, they're classic and retro.

It's hard to think of Las Vegas without Penn & Teller.

. . . or Donny & Marie . . . neither of them like to spell out "and."

I almost passed out on X-Scream.  Oh man, I don't even want to relive it in my mind.

Marvel and Transformer action.  Spider-man is having just a little too much fun.

Is Hello Kitty bored or annoyed?  I can't decide.