Omiyage - Much Loved Character Souvenirs (Part 2 of 2)

Planning a visit to Japan in the future? Having a plan is always a good thing...right down to the souvenirs you'll be buying. Consider these ideas.

If you are thinking about curios or cute things for kids, there is a very convenient place right by Tokyo Station. It's in the B1F (Basement - 1st floor) Tokyo Eki Ichiban-gai (First Avenue Tokyo Station) just outside of the Yaesu Exit, called Tokyo Character Street.

Japanese love items called "character goods". You'll see all sorts of goodies featuring Japanese kids' favorite characters. Here's a brief translation of the possible items to choose from (from top to bottom).

Shochiku Kabuki Honpo: Hit items sold in Kabuki-za, the Kabuki theater; a sort of like a museum shop of Kabukiza I assume.

Jump Shop: Character goods from the manga magazine "Shonen Jump" including "One Piece", "Naruto" and the original characters created by Akira Toriyama.

Tomica Shop: Tomica is originally a miniature car collection line by toy manufacturer Tomy. The items are miniature cars and goods with the car characters.

Plarail Shop: Plarail is another long time hit line of Tomy's toy line; plastic rails and plastic train miniatures. It would be a kid's dream to have enough plarails to make a town out of the rails and other pieces but, unfortunately for me and my friends, we had insufficient space at home to build our play-town. Now, any people that had to deal with that type of trauma growing up still love these items today.

NHK Character Shop: NHK is a Japanese national broadcast network like the British BBC. The characters from the NHK TV shows. (Channel 1 and 3)

Snoopy Town Mini: You might know about this. If you are a Snoopy collector, Japan has many of the original items.

Rascal Shop: Rascal was a story of a racoon and one of the long time surviving TV animation series called Sekai Meisaku Gekijo 世界名作劇場, meaning World Masterpiece Theater. (for kids). This shop is of the only shop of the creator of the series Nippon Animation Co., Ltd.

Donguri Garden: This is the shop of Studio Ghibli, the creator of the big hit animation like Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. If someone likes Japanese animation, Ghibli is the 101. (Note: Studio Ghibli is also responsible for such recent animated films as Ponyo" and "The Secret World of Arrietty.")

Fuji TV Shop: This is the shop of the well known Fuji TV network. Their headquarters building is in Odaiba, Tokyo. (Channel 8 in Tokyo)

TV Tokyo Honpo: Another TV network but this is a Tokyo local vicinity only station. (Channel 12 in Tokyo)

TBS Store: Another TV network shop, Tokyo Broadcasting System or TBS. (Channel 6 in Tokyo)

Tele-Asa Shop; Another TV network, Asahi Television, usually called Tele-Asa. (Channel 10 in Tokyo)

Nittele-ya: Also a TV network, Nihon Television, Nittele is the abbreviation. (Channel 4 in Tokyo)

Ultraman World M78: M78 is where the Ultraman was born. This is the shop of it.

Lego Click Brick: I guess you need no explanation for this.

Capybara-san Kyurutto Shop: Capybara is quite a loved animal in Japan (not as a pet, just seeing them in a zoo). It's name uses a character with the meaning of "healing" because of its relaxed characteristics. This shop carries the character items of Capybara and the concept is natural, it says. Here's Capybara-san. Ha ha, I just saw it for the first time, I love it. Kawaii~~ Iyasareru~~ (So cute and healing).... I love the ones in the hot springs. "Healing characteristics" is called "iyashi-chara", Japanese people love this type of healing.

Rerakkuma Shop. Rirakkuma is a made-up word that combines relax and kuma (bear). The bear character is relaxing. I think this character is sold in the US by Sanrio.

Pricure Pritty Store: I may not be right with the spelling. If you know the right one, please let us know.

Hello Kitty Shop: This is another character quite popular in Japan and becoming a hit in the US.

Miffy Style: Miffy is Dick Bruna's rabbit's shop.

K-spot: It's a showcase of new characters and items on trend. The producer is Kiddy Land, a big toy retail store.