Mickey, Minnie, Pooh, and even Baymax turn into traditional symbols of good luck and the Chinese Zodiac to help ring in 2020.
For the most part, walking into a Disney Store in Japan is like walking into one in the U.S. Take a look around, and you’ll spot plushies, toys, kitchenware, and apparel items celebrating whatever the latest and greatest Disney animated theatrical feature is, plus evergreen hits like Frozen, The Little Mermaid, and the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons.
But sometimes you’ll also find only-in-Japan stuff, and right now Japanese Disney Store branches, as well as the chain’s online shop, are offering oshogatsu (Japanese New Year’s) items in an adorable mix of culture and cuteness!
To start with, there’s a pair of Mickey and Minnie Mouse plushies shaped like daruma, the dolls traditionally used for making wishes in Japan. Embroidered on Mickey’s tummy is a pine tree, while Minnie’s bears a plum blossom, both symbols of prosperity thought to bring good luck in the coming year. There are also smaller Chip and Dale versions if you don’t have much space in your home or simply need a quadruple-supply of cuddly daruma.
▼ At 1,200 yen (US$11) each, Chip and Dale are also less expensive than the 2,000-yen Micky or Minnie daruma.
If you’re looking for even more good fortune, there’s also a set of figurines (1,000 yen each) posing in front of the gold screen frequently used in Japanese New Year’s decorations. Your choices here are Mickey, holding a pair of auspicious sea breams like he’s the fisher god/beer mascot Ebisu, Winnie the Pooh showing off a bundle of rice as a portent of bountiful harvests to come in 2020, Chip and Dale in front of an oshogatsu wreath, and the Alien from Toy Story having his head bitten by a lion dancer, which is said to bestow whoever is bitten with enhanced luck.
Also on offer is a 1,500-yen kadomatsu New Year’s tree, which would pair nicely with the Pikachu one sold at Tokyo’s brand-new Pokémon Center Shibuya megastore.
One particularly unique aspect of New Year’s in Japan is that while it’s celebrated by the Gregorian calendar (i.e. January 1 is celebrated as New Year’s Day), the country also uses the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. So at the start of next month, Japan will consider it to be the Year of the Mouse, and so Disney Stores will also be selling plushies, in various sizes of Winnie the Pooh and his pals dressed up in mouse costumes and nibbling on some tasty cheese.
▼ Large-size Pooh (2,800 yen), mid-size Eeyore (1,600 yen), and compact Piglet and Roo (1,500 yen each)
This is all just a glimpse of the complete Disney oshogatsu lineup, with some of the other highlights being a plush version of a kagami mochi rice cake (4,180 yen), another traditional Japanese New Year’s decoration, shaped like Mickey…
…and this heart-melting Baymax daruma figurine.
▼ Once again proving that Big Hero 6 deserves more credit for how versatile it is.
In addition to being available in Disney Store branches across Japan, the entire lineup is also available through the chain’s online store, and orders can be placed here.
Source: PR Times, Disney Store
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Disney Store
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he really, really wants more Baymax animation.