よせがき - A Fumofumo for Keepsake

Today is my brother's convocation from university. おめでとう! While I was wondering if he will like a fumofumo san as a convocation gift, this よせがき fumofumo came into my mind. These white fumos canvas are made out of a special type of material that allows you to write a congratulating message, or draw directly on them. As advertised by shinada, they are designed to be used as graduation, wedding, and farewell keepsake. Unlike normal fumofumo san, which gives me a feeling of warm, soft, and condolence, these one gave me the exact opposite plus a feeling of incompleteness. (In fact, they remind me of a white pillow without a pillow case.) I supposed this is when the sender comes in and make the fumofumo san complete by drawing or writing on them. Well, it is now too late for me to get one for my brother. In fact, I don't even know shinada still makes them (they were released in 2009), maybe I will find one for his wedding....... :P

Picture taken from shinada.net.

Vote For Your Favorite Fumofumo San!

This year is the 10th year anniversary for fumo fumo san. Has it really been that long? Anyway, congratulation Shinada and all fumo fumo san! おめでとう！If you haven't done it yet, please go to http://www.efeel.to/survey/fumofumo/ before June 7th, 2012 to vote for your favorite (or favorite six) fumo fumo san. Can't wait to see the result!

Just a side note... you see where mogugu is standing in the banner above? He is standing at the front row right next to Keronyo the frog. I am so proud of him!

Picture taken from http://www.shinada.net/.

Mogugu 5th Year Anniversary - もぐぐ特典

Today, April 8th, is the 5th year anniversary of my acquiring of Mogugu, my first and favorite fumofumo san. Five years ago, I went to Japan with my boyfriend to see cherry blossom. At my last destination, Tokyo, we stumbled cross a toy store at Ueno, and that's where I met Mogugu. However, I didn't take Mogugu with me, which was clearly a mistake; I simply could not forget the expression on his face. For the rest of the trip, I kept my eyes peeled, and finally, on the second last day my stay in Tokyo, I found Mogugu again. This is not the end of the story.... this is only the beginning.

The Elegant Fumofumo - BiBi (びび）

The more I look at this fumofumo, the more I felt the essence of Japanese in it. First, it actually reminds me of Doremon, but more importantly, the red patch on his head simply resembles the sun on a Japanese flag. Don't you think that the proportion of red on his head to the white on his stomach closely resemble the ratio of red and white on a Japanese flag? Maybe I am just thinking too much....

Bibi is the newly created fumofumo from Shinada this Spring. Not only does the vivid blue colour reminds me of a beautiful sky in Spring, the coming of the barn swallow, a migratory bird, also indicates that Spring has officially came!

(Picture taken from e-yamashiroya)

New Fumofumo - Chikori?

人のそばが好きなフモフモさんが発見されたみたいです。



Another new fumofumo san! The name is chikori, it likes to be around people as described by Shinada. However, I really have no idea what is the inspiration for this fumofumo. The two circles at the cheek of chikori do remind me a sparrow, but the Japanese translation of sparrow is suzume, which does not really resemble chikori. The chikori also reminded me of fuku the owl or pemomo the penguin (see below). I guess they are all birds!



Pictures taken from shinada.net

Little Gadgets!

Sometimes I really wonder if Japanese adults would use these cute bus pass holder or key holder, etc. I was really curious, mostly because I really wanted one and I need to justify it for myself (and I don't live in Japan). So I went to ask my Japanese friend about it, and to my surprise and relief, my friend told me that in fact their target markets are Japanese adults since children would not be able to afford them. With that said, I excitedly asked my friend to find me one in Japan. Too bad they didn't make one with mugugu... Nevertheless, I can't wait to use mine, and who cares what the bus driver thinks??

In terms of the design, I think the use of the reel is quite smart. However, the string and the hook does look kind of flimsy. Will it endure the stronger pulling force exerted by an adult? I sure hope that the designers had put that into considerations too...


Bus Pass Holder (Launched in April, 2011)


Another new product for the month of April. This key holder, or more precisely the sumomo squeeze as advertised by Yamashiroya, is like a kind of stress relief toy I supposed. Not too sure what the material is, but probably polyurethane foam, the same material used in many stress balls. The sumomo squeeze is around 10 cm high, comes in two pastel colours and a brighter yellow. I want to squeeze them too!


Sumomo squeeze (Launched in April, 2011)

Image taken from shinada.net and e-yamashiroya.com.