So I bought the Hello Kitty sanitary napkins.
The package was pink (about this color) for the regular napkins, and a light blue for the fragrance-free deodorant napkins, and both had a large picture of Hello Kitty on the front, and the requisite "how to peel off the adhesive backing from the napkins in case you can't figure out that the adhesive side faces your panties and not your vaginal orfice" explanation on the other. The napkins themselves were individually wrapped in plastic printed with a small pale blue (or pink) Hello Kitty and daisy pattern. Once you peeled off the wrapper, there really was no way to differentiate them from any other sanitary napkin. I mean, it wasn't like there was a quilted pattern of Hello Kitty on the napkin itself so you got to bleed all over her mouthless little face or anything. The quality of napkins were about par with all the other sanitary napkins in Japan, which is well within reasonable limits. I have nothing against this product itself. If Hello Kitty can help make a young girl comfortable with her maturity, hats off to her.

Oh, and the Beanie Babies are here. I saw them in a nearby department store. Some were cuter than others, and I thought that a turkey was rather cute, and bought it. It cost something like 860 yen, which is not bad when you consider duties and shipping and such. Their arrival has been surprisingly quiet. I suppose the craze has died down somewhat on the other side of the Pacific, because I don't hear about them quite as much anymore, which is probably a good thing.

The current craze (though it seems to be going a bit downhill) is Tare Panda (TAH-reh panda). Translated literally, it means droopy panda. I've a friend at work who thinks that they are the cutest things on the face of the planet. Domestic sociologists have analyzed that with the current long-term recession, people no longer find meaning in working hard, and want something that will give their hearts peace. Um, whatever. I just kind of find it amusing that there are Tare Panda boxers (in adult male sizes). I just have to send a pair to a male friend one of these days. Those, and the "Men's Pocky" boxers.

(Mind out of the gutter, you ignorant non-Japanese perverts. "Pocky" is a candy made by the Glico corporation of Japan. They are thin stick crackers, covered with chocolate. They're very good.)

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