Adding a touch of canine cuteness to the homes of housebroken doggy lovers.

You could say that Japanese design is a complex mixture of aesthetics developed during the country’s centuries of isolation and those enthusiastically taken from foreign influences. You could argue that it blends the seemingly contradictory desires of captivating beauty and elegant understatement.

Or, you could just say it’s all about making things cute, and you’d still be right quite a lot of the time. Japanese designers’ commitment to cuteness even extends to pooping and the bathroom, with the latest example being these adorable Shiba Inu toilet paper covers.

To clarify, these aren’t individually sold rolls of toilet paper that come in throw-away doggy packaging. Manufacturer Mimi Papier Toilette has created four cloth covers to place over spare rolls you keep in your bathroom, so that guests will have a cute view as they do their business, and will also know where they can restock from should they run short of supplies. Two of the covers, the light-brown Okaka (meaning “Bonito”) and black Goma (“Sesame”) are designed to slip over the top of the roll.

▼ For each of the covers, the Shiba Inu’s ears stick up attentively.

Meanwhile, the dark-brown Tsuna (“Tuna) and white Ume (“Plum”) wrap around the roll.

As if the potty preparedness pups weren’t cute enough on their own, they’re actually likenesses of the dogs from the Mochi Shiba line of character merchandise.

Each cover is priced at 400 yen (US$3.80), but you can’t just walk into a housewares shop and buy them, since they’re instead being offered out of capsule toy vending machines. As such, it might require a few tries to get the exact version you want, but since you probably should have more than one backup roll of toilet paper in your bathroom anyway, having a couple covers shouldn’t be a problem.

Source, images: PR Times
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