Stationery goods allow you to animate the characters. 

Studio Ghibli is never short of clever ideas when it comes to character creation and storyline hooks, and that ingenuity is also evident in the official merchandise sold through affiliated retail chain Donguri Kyowakoku.

With January on the horizon, the store is preparing a special range of New Year’s goods to help celebrate Japan’s most important holiday season, and one brand new offering is the Mado Tsuki Pochibukuro. “Mado Tsuki” means “With a Window” and “Pochibukuro” (a combination of the words “just a little” and “bag”) refers to small decorative envelopes used to give money as gifts, especially in the case of “otoshidama“, monetary gifts for children at New Year’s.

▼ The Ghibli pochibukuro are unlike any others you’ll find in Japan.

What makes two envelopes so special is the fact that they’re interactive, allowing you to essentially “animate” two famous characters in ways that recall the action from the films in which they appear.

The first envelope features the Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro, with two cardboard inserts that fit inside.

This cute card, showing young character Mei strolling behind a White Totoro, is for writing a short message to the recipient.

The orange card, which has “めい” (“Mei”) printed on it, slots in front of the message card, so that when it’s inserted into the envelope…

▼ …the name shows through the window.

When combined with the envelope design, this insert sits in the destination marker on the Catbus, acting like a new destination for the friendly feline.

You can also switch things up so the message card shows instead, in which case you’ll want to position names like “しょうたくん” (“Shouta”) or words like “お年玉” (“Otoshidama”) in such a way that they’ll show up on the Catbus’ destination marker.

Fans of Spirited Away will be pleased to know there’s a pochibukuro that’s right up their alley.

This design features No Face, with hands outstretched as if offering up a red wooden bathhouse tag from the film to the recipient.

The message card is adorned with three Soot Sprites, surrounded by the colourful komeito candies that they’re so enamoured with.

Like the Catbus envelope, this variety also has a playful interactive element, as the tag appears and disappears when you insert and remove the card.

You can also include your own message to personalise the experience, although that might give the recipient a moment of pause to reflect on any sense of greed that might arise.

▼ Otoshidama…ah ah ah

The new envelopes can be purchased at Donguri Kyowakoku stores and online for 550 yen (US$3.51) each. At that price, we’ll be able to pick up some for gifting… and some to keep for ourselves. Ah ah ah…

Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Featured image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2)
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