Cute Cars Redux

This post is just to share photos I've collected of a fun Japanese trend.  It's popular  (more so than in the US) to decorate the inside of your car with stuffed animals, trinkets etc.  It's something that really stood out to me when we first arrived but now I don't notice it so much.  But I still have a few pics!

And FYI, the title is a reference to a post I did long ago about the cute little pastel compact cars they have here.  I think you can see a couple of the cars below are pastel pink.  It really adds to the overall effect.  Very kawaii!!!

tweet tweet (and I wonder how this person sees to drive)

furry

themes, like this Minnie one, are common

I think this cat is from Disney's The Aristocats?

I would not want to be a passenger in this car

Bento Bonanza

If you have a Pinterest account, you most likely know to what "bento" refers.  For anyone unfamiliar, they're the little Japanese lunch boxes with food arranged in an artistic or cute design.  They've gotten kind of popular in the US, mainly with the types of people who spend way too much time on Pinterest (myself included).  Way back in the day, I did a post about a nearby take-out bento place.  I can report that we ate there last night and it is much the same as it was then.  It's fun for me to read that post now.....oh, the days when everything was exciting and new....

Anyway, this post is going to be specifically about the basic bento-making supplies available here.  When I found myself with a toddler I became a little bit more interested in the idea of making bento-type lunch presentations.  In my opinion, bento-style lunches and toddlers go really well together.  I don't get too crazy with the artistic presentation but I did go on a search (at the local department/dollar stores) for tiny cookie cutters.

Imagine my fascination when I found the following....

a kit to turn your rice into penguins

a fancy gizmo to cut the bread off of  sandwiches

millions of cute skewers

elaborate kits to put faces on rice balls

picks, tweezers, punches, oh my....

more skewers

my personal favorite....turn your rice into
the Shinkansen

turn your wienies into sea creatures

tiny, oh so tiny, sauce bottles

Folks, this is just a small selection.  I like to imagine how excited American bento-Pinteresters would be if they could get their hands on this stuff.  And then I like to imagine what many American moms would do if they were expected to make penguin-train-octopus masterpieces every morning....yikes.

Anyone ever seen bento-making supplies anywhere in the US?  Other than cookie cutters?

Blog Update

Hi everyone!  Long time no see!  If you've actually come to read this, thank you for your patience.  I don't have much of an excuse for why I haven't posted much over the last six months.  Mostly just that I ran out of things that I thought were interesting enough to write about.  After you've been here for so long you just get used to all the "different" stuff and it becomes difficult to identify what might be interesting to someone who had never been here before.

Anyway, I have some news!  As many of my most regular readers will know by now, we are moving back to America soon!  While we're excited, that does mean that I will be closing the doors on this little blog.  I will leave it up as an archive, of course, I just won't post anymore.

But before that happens I DO have a few last hurrahs planned.  I have a few regular posts I've had on the way, way, way back-burner that I will try to get out soon.  I also plan to do some "leaving Japan" posts as we're on our way out the door.  Topics to include:

• What To Do If You're Moving to Japan
• What I'll Miss About Japan
• How Japan Has Changed Me

And then I may finish with some posts about the "reverse culture-shock" I experience after we are back in the US.

Stay warm and stay tuned!