Whimsy: Otogicco (Little Red Riding Hood)

You may remember a few weeks ago I traveled to San Francisco to visit a dear friend. One of our adventures was a trip to Japantown where we ate and shopped for a few hours. One of my favorite stops was Kinokuniya Bookstore where the hubby found a satisfactory graphic design section and I was happy to look for books.


Afterall, bookstores, libraries and all other buildings that house books are my natural habitat.


Then I walked around an endcap and discovered this display. All of the images are mine, taken by my iPhone camera, since I didn't anticipate needing a camera while shopping there. One advantage to a cellphone camera is the ability to take surreptitious pictures without many people gawking at the crazy woman snapping copious photos of dishes and knick knacks.


Although I admit I did receive a few strange looks, mostly because I was having fun looking over everything.


In the end, I let sanity reign and didn't purchase any of these items. I don't drink tea but the teapot and tea mug with strainer (the one with the umbrella lid) were my favorite pieces. I decided pictures were better for sharing than more clutter for my desk.


But, oh, I was sorely tempted.


The tape dispenser was the most practical for sitting at my desk, but it was also the most fragile, not made very sturdy. The rest was all high quality though. The bento box was also cute, but the dishes were my favorites.

I searched for Otogicco online and there are many more pieces available at shops online. Just do an image search on Google to find more images that aren't mine. If some of these other items had been at the bookstore, I'm afraid they would have made my wallet lighter and my luggage heavier. There are some fun things available in this line! You can see some of them on Miss Thundercat's Flickr Page or visit the Decole website (in Japanese).

I found a few other smaller fairy tale related items in Japantown, too, but will save those for the next few days.

Who knew LRRH was so popular in Japan, too? Or that European fairy tales are for that matter. I knew, but hadn't really explored before.