Beautiful Totoro bag returns, still requires jumping through an extra hoop to get, still worth it

Yeah, it’s a bit of a hassle, but you can get a whole lot of cuteness in return.

Pretty much anyone who’s an anime fan could walk into any branch of Studio Ghibli specialty store Donguri Kyowakoku and easily find a half-dozen things they’d like to take home. However, there are also some very desirable items that you won’t see inside Donguri Kyowakoku branches, like the beautiful Totoro bag seen here.

That’s because this indigo-dyed shopping bag is available exclusively to shoppers with a registered membership at Donguri Kyowakoku’s Sore no Ue branch. Luckily, registering with that branch doesn’t really require any legwork, since Sora no Ue means “up in the sky,” and the Sora no Ue branch is the official name of Donguri Kyowakoku’s online shop, which is the sole place where you can buy this online purchase-only item.

Despite the exclusivity of the item, the My Neighbor Totoro Craft Style Collection Shopping Bag, as it’s officially known, is sure to be a big seller. When it first appeared back in January, it sold out more or less immediately, and it’s not hard to see why, what with the cute and cool graphic of Totoro taking his flying top out for a spin as fireworks light up the sky around him.

▼ Fireworks are most commonly associated with summer in Japan, but this is a scene we can happily stare at year-round.

The backside might appear devoid of Totoro-related aesthetics, but it actually contains the hiragana character “to” (と), here short for “Totoro,” of course, written in a playful font.

What’s putting smiles on faces even more so than the visual design right now, though, is that the Totoro Craft Style Collection Shopping Bag is, as of this moment, back in stock and available to registered Sore no Ue branch users here, priced at 5,280 yen (US$35). Sure, registering is a bit of a hoop to jump through, but it feels like it’s worth it when the reward is this adorably stylish.

Source, images: Donguri Kyowakoku
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