Japan is not just for Christmas, it’s for the whole year…

This coming year (as always) I’ll be keeping Japan close beside me as the months pass by. One of my Christmas presents was this cute Hello Kitty calendar:

The calendar is simple, and very, very pink! Kitty wears a cute ballerina outfit, and she’s in a different pose each month. Kawaii! This is an official Sanrio product, distributed from the UK but printed in South Korea.

And I also bought this ‘Haiku – Japanese Art and Poetry’ calendar for myself.

The traditional art throughout this calendar is really beautiful, and each month comes with a different haiku in both English and Japanese. One haiku I particularly liked was July’s:

The silence of high noon:
the river runs soundlessly –
so reed birds nest.

– Issa (1762 – 1826)

All of the prints in the calendar come from the collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in Canada.

Finally, I know this is a bit old-school, but I still like to use a paper diary. I was really pleased with this Kimmidoll diary I found for 2014:

Each month has a different character, and a meaning is given for each character’s name.

I love the Kimmidoll range, and have purchased a couple of items before. The dolls, modelled on Japanese kokeshi (こけし) dolls, are really cute. Unfortunately, they are from Australia and aren’t so widely available here in the UK (although some can be found on Amazon and eBay).

Did you get anything Japanese-y for Christmas?