Twentythree

Sparkly new range will hold down your papers and lift your spirits with anime charm.

Paperwork can be a significant source of stress for any student, worker or bill payer, but now there’s a way to lighten the load, thanks to a new series of paperweights from Studio Ghibli’s specialty retail chain Donguri Kyowakoku.

There are three to choose from in this sparkly range, which pays homage to the studio’s 1988 film, My Neighbour Totoro.

▼ The first paperweight is the “Standing Totoro“.

▼ This crystal glass paperweight brings Totoro to life with a clear, radiant shine.

▼ It can be used in two different ways – upright in a standing position…

▼ …or flat so the character looks like it’s lying on its back.

This versatility is especially charming, as it recalls the way we see the character in the film. While Totoro is upright for most of the movie, there is a beautiful moment when the forest character is seen sleeping on its back, in the scene where he first meets main character Mei.

▼ The second paperweight also features Totoro, in a design called “Koma Totoro“.

This paperweight references the scene in the movie where the character flies through the sky on a koma (Japanese spinning top).

Though this paperweight is designed to be used flat, the beautiful scene it evokes will help to brighten your mood whenever you see it.

If you’ve ever wanted to escape your paperwork and fly through the sky on a spinning top, this is the design for you.

▼ Rounding out the collection is the Catbus.

This character has a glow about it in the film, thanks to its headlights and interior, but we’ve never seen it sparkle like this!

Beautifully crafted, the paperweight captures all the details of the magical character, including its tail…

▼ … legs …

▼… and signature grin.

▼ The curves of the Catbus refract light so beautifully you’ll hardly get any paperwork done.

Though these paperweights are designed to hold down papers and documents, they can also be displayed as treasured objets d’art.

▼ Each one is packaged in a beautiful box, with a card referencing the makers, Noritake.

Ghibli has long partnered with Noritake to produce its special edition yearly plates, so it’s nice to see this partnership evolving to include new glass designs. Each paperweight is priced at 5,500 yen (US$35.11) and can be purchased at Donguri Kyowakoku stores and online (links below) while stocks last.

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Featured image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3)
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60-ish birthday celebration is coming to Shibuya.

Sega is in a pretty good spot these days. After years of being little more than a sleeper hit outside Japan, the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise is now a bona fide worldwide hit. Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio, which Sega serves as publisher for, have been met with critical and popular praise. Even company mascot Sonic, after years of disappointing outings, has clawed back some respectability with his more recent games, and also recovered a lot of his pop culture cachet through his ongoing movie series.

However, for many loyal Sega fans there’s still a fondness for Sega’s past, and that’s what’s going to be celebrated at the Sega 65th The Limited Shop in Tokyo.

Yes, Sega really does have more than six decades’ worth of history, but you could make the argument that it’s actually marking its 66th anniversary, or its 61st, since before changing its name to Sega Enterprises in 1965, the company was known as Nihon Goraku Bussan upon its founding in 1960. However you do the math, though, Sega has been around for a long time, and they’re celebrating with a popup shop in the Miyashita Park complex in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood.

However, it doesn’t look like the shop will be putting too much focus on the company’s very earliest days as a provider of slot machines and jukeboxes. Instead, the spotlight will be shining on Sega’s meaty midlife video game era. A brand-new line of merchandise is being created, and while Sonic and Like a Dragon are, predicably, represented, so too are once-landmark releases that have now been partially covered by the sands of time. So while, for instance, you’ll be able to find Sonic Adventure 2 T-shirts at the store…

…you can also get some Sakura Wars gear to add to your wardrobe.

Even deeper cuts into Sega history can be found in the keychain collection, with pieces for fans of Puyo Puyo, Space Channel 5, and Roomania 203.

▼ Roomania 203, a Dreamcast game in which you try to influence the life of an everyday Japanese dude by indirectly interacting with him within the confines of his studio apartment, is an example of the sort of crazy games Sega made in the early 2000s that left unique impressions but didn’t make a lot of money.

With the opening of the store still a few weeks away, Sega is still being coy about the full merch lineup, but says that in addition to in-house developed items, it’s also working with a team of visual artists, consisting of Shohei Ochiai, Shinknowsuke, Nukeme, Bokunou, and Lugosis & Strato, to combine their aesthetic sensibilities. The goal is to make a visit to the Sega 65th The Limited Shop feel like an experience, not just a shopping run. In addition to the above-mentioned games, Sega is also teasing merchandise for its ambitious Nights Saturn title, as well as items for fans of the Dreamcast, Saturn, and Mega Drive consoles themselves.

Sega 65th The Limited Shop will be open from May 21 to 28.

Shop information
Sega 65th The Limited Shop
Venue: Miyashita Park Park in Park
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 6-20-10
東京都渋谷区神宮前6丁目20−10
Open 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
Runs May 21-May 28
Website

Source: Sega 65th The Limited Shop official website via Denfaminico Gamer, Sega
Images: Sega
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Photo shows Family Mart chocolate donut looking nothing like its packaging, but was that by design?

It’d be an exaggeration to say that Japan’s love affair with its convenience stores is over, but the relationship isn’t quite as rosy as it used to be. Over the last few years, the trend has been towards rising prices, shrinking sizes, and an overall lower level of satisfaction among shoppers. In some cases, major convenience store chains have come under fire for deceptive packaging or presentation that critics say misrepresent what’s really being sold, and the latest one to find itself in the crosshairs is Family Mart.

Family Mart’s Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts are a consistent best seller, and a constant presence in the chain’s pastry aisle. Priced at 135 yen (US$0.90), they’re a remaining light of hope that we can still have inexpensive, delicious treats, but that perception took a major blow when the following Japanese Twitter post went viral, claiming to show a Family mart Chocolate Old-fashioned with hardly any chocolate at all.

これはさすがに笑った
底上げ弁当が霞んで見えるわ pic.twitter.com/Pa4cKCfMjq

— 二見俊弥 | Syunya Futami (@Aynuh_simatuh) April 23, 2026

That post went up on April 23, and the amount of chocolate on the donut is in reverse portion to how upset it made sweets fans. But is Family Mart really trying to shortchange/shortchoco its customers to such an egregious degree? To investigate, we made the solemn decision to go out and buy a bunch of donuts.

We came back to our testing center with 10 Family Mart Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts, sourced from four different branches, in order to get a broader picture of what’s going on.

Obviously, making donuts isn’t like assembling cars, so we’re not going to be holding Family Mart to industrial engineering-caliber standards of uniformity here. The photo on the packaging for their Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts, though, shows chocolate covering about half of the donut (way more than in the above tweet), so that’s the amount we’ll be looking for.

Let’s get started with our first three test subjects.

We’d call all of these acceptable. Sure, there’s some variance, but nothing shockingly off from the target of 50-percent coverage, even if the uneven upper surface of the donut means that there are gaps sometimes.

Let’s open up four more.

Again, nothing stands out here as anything that makes us think we’re getting scammed. That last one, in particular, looks like it’s got chocolate covering more than half of it, so if anything, Family Mart’s package is underselling that individual example.

OK, now for the last three.

As you can see, out of the 10 donuts we tested, none of them looked significantly different from what Family Mart promises through its packaging, and none of them were even close to the choco-deprived donut shown in the viral tweet.

About the only room for criticism is that the chocolate here is a covering, not a coating, in the sense that it’s primarily on the top of the donut, and doesn’t really wrap around the side or bottom surfaces.

However, there’s no law or confectionary compact that says a chocolate donut has to have an all-sides coating, and the packaging itself only shows it on top.

So if our testing shows that Family Mart’s donuts really do tend to have as much chocolate as promised, what’s going on in that tweet? Assuming the photo is genuine and the donut undoctored, it would seem, to be the result of some sort of production process error. Since Family Mart currently only sells Chocolate Old-fashioned Donuts (there’s no plain version), should you happen to end up with one with so little chocolate, the best thing to do would be to take it back up to the counter and show it to the clerk or manager and ask for a replacement, since it’s a fluke of some kind, and not a case of Family Mart actively trying to rip you off.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Lipton caters to the Japanese market with an exclusive new dessert beverage.

Lipton has come a long way since it was founded by Sir Thomas Lipton in Scotland in 1871, expanding to become known as a leading tea brand in countries around the world, including Japan.

Like many big global brands, Lipton specifically caters to the Japanese market with exclusive offerings you won’t find anywhere else, and right now there’s a new release that will have tea connoisseurs clutching their china teacups.

Called Lipton Purin Milk Tea, this new beverage is designed to taste like purin, a popular Japanese custard pudding that’s similar to a crème caramel. Consisting of a smooth, silky custard base topped with a layer of bittersweet caramel sauce, purin are typically served chilled and can be found in stores, cafes and many a home refrigerator.

While purin isn’t commonly served with a side of tea, Lipton is here to prove that the flavours work well together, saying this milk tea is inspired by the taste of old-fashioned pudding, and features a rich eggy flavour with slightly bitter caramel.

“Eggy flavour” might not sound all that appealing to purin first-timers, but it’s used in the sense that it provides a rich, custard-like mouthfeel, which is part of what makes purin so popular.

The dessert-like milk tea is said to evoke the taste of a classic, traditional pudding, with carefully selected fragrant and flavourful tea leaves crafting a perfect balance between the main components.

After trying Lipton’s Pancake Tea Latte in 2024, we’re looking forward to seeing if the new Purin Milk Tea is just as mind-bendingly delicious, and it will be available at stores around Japan from 12 May, at a recommended retail price of 184 yen (US$1.15).

Source, images: PR Times
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Pray to get ahead or to keep your head.

Bicycle helmets have really taken off recently. In the months leading up to Japan’s stricter cycling violation penalties, I noticed many more people around me wearing them, and after the laws went into effect, they even started selling out in a lot of stores. That’s great to see as it’s a simple way to potentially save lives.

But is it enough to have a carefully designed and rigorously tested artificial shell forming a protective barrier around your cranium? Why not add a layer of spiritual protection to it too, just in case you happen to fall off your bike and onto a stretch of road paved with pure malice and vitriol?

Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine in Mie Prefecture can provide that by offering bike helmet blessings. Many shrines offer blessings and protective omamori talismans specializing in traffic safety, but what makes this shrine unique is that it specializes in the head.

The name “Kobenomiya” literally means “Shrine of the Head,” originally because it enshrined an imperial family member’s skull, but later because it also enshrined the God of Heads. This applies to all things dome-related, from injury protection to smarts when studying for exams. So, if you want any sort of divine intervention for your noggin, this is the place to be.

And in honor of Bicycle Month in Japan, Kobenomiya Yomo and bike-helmet maker OGK Kabuto are teaming up for a special edition goshuin. These are often exquisitely crafted stamps that you can collect from shrines and temples after praying there as a kind of souvenir of the places you’ve visited.

This new goshuin is believed to be the first of its kind in Japan, shaped like an OGK Kabuto AERO-R2 model helmet. This model is used by members of the Japanese national cycling team and not only represents safety but also a desire to reach the top, something also exemplified by the Shrine of the Head.

Helmet blessings have been held since 2022, but the goshuin will be made available from 1 May, also known as Bicycle Helmet Day. This day kicks off Bicycle Month, which is intended to raise awareness for safety, manners, and the healthy aspects that all come along with pedaling light vehicles.

▼ Don’t forget to get your Bicycle Helmet Day shopping done.

It’s a perfect marriage of spiritualism and technology. Luck will only take you so far, so it’s a good idea to make your own luck with some high-performance polycarbonate too. That’s why you should head on down to Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine or most other shrines that offer traffic safety blessings, and, most importantly, a bike shop to buy a helmet so you can protect your grey matter, because someday it may matter.

Shrine information
Kobenomiya Yomo Shrine / 頭之宮四方神社
Address: Mie-ken, Watarai-gun, Taiki, Ouchiyama 3314-2
三重県度会郡大紀町大内山3314-2
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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