Hong Kong is full of Hello Kitty again – even more than usual. Currently there is a big Tokidoki x Hello Kitty promotion going on at all the 7-Eleven shops in Hong Kong. Which means that you basically see Hello Kitty everywhere because there are just so many 7-Elevens over here. There are 22 different Hello Kitty charms, designed in collaboration with Italian lifestyle brand Tokidoki. To get one of those funny toys you have to collect stamps. For every purchase worth 20 HKD you get a stamp. Once you’ve collected 15 stamps you get a charm for free (or just add 20 HKD when you have 5 stamps and get one too). Aren’t the designs really cute? We like the Donut Kitty and Apple Kitty really a lot. But they are all adorable, no doubt about that. There even is a whole Hello Kitty spot about the collection.

And of course there is more Hello Kitty going on in 7-Eleven. We found those funny Hello Kitty toys and yummy looking cookies in the shelves too.

Tokidoki x Hello Kitty official poster

all the different Hello Kitty charms in the 7-Eleven stores

unfortunately they are presented in a vitrine, so no touching

on the 7-Eleven homepage you can look at all the characters

cute Hello Kitty toys in one of the 7-Eleven shelves

yummy looking Hello Kitty cookies @ 7-Eleven

Christmas kawaii. Langham Place, a big Shopping mall in Mong Kok (Hong Kong), presents a cute Hello Kitty installation during the whole Christmas season. Last year they already had a display Hello Kitty back to London, This year’s theme Hello Kitty back to Ice Age really creates a great winter mood, because Hello Kitty is dressed in warm winter clothes standing in lots of ice. And in Hong Kong it’s still over 20 degrees Celcius.

There are always long lines in front of each Hello Kitty character, because everybody wants a picture of himself with the cute kitties. Staff even has to coordinate the people, so that everybody can take a picture. Which one is your favourite?

The whole Hello Kitty installation - official photo by Langham Place

cute Hello Kitty shaped monitors show the official poster

cute Hello Kitty travelling back to Ice Age on a plane

adorable Hello Kitty in warm winter clothes

People pose with Hello Kitty and mammut for pictures

Hello Kitty in a spaceship arriving at Ice Age

many people wanted to see Hello Kitty

in the whole mall there are advertisements for the exhibition

the entrance of the mall is decorated in Hello Kitty style too

Guys, it’s Hello Kitty everywhere in Hong Kong. McDonald’s Hong Kong has a special Hello Kitty promotion going on at the moment. You can get 4 really cute plush toys for 25 HKD a piece to every meal that you purchase. Hello Kitty is dressed as famous McDonald’s characters, there is Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, Grimace and Birdie. Of course Hello Kitty looks much cuter than the originals. You see the lovely toys throughout the whole city and there are special TV advertisements, which are running these days. Even the staff at McDonald’s is wearing Hello Kitty shirts, what an adorable work uniform. It made me think about how a work uniform for our team could look like. But there are just so many cute characters in our shop, they would all have to be on the uniform – so it would be very crowded.

the 4 Hello Kitty toys you can choose from

you see the Hello Kitty plush toys everywhere

even the staff is wearing Hello Kitty shirts

A typhoon swept past Hong Kong today. Especially in the summertime this happens quite frequently over here, but this one was pretty powerful. All offices, schools and many shops are closed today. Many ferries and some buses can’t go, as it’s just too stormy and dangerous. Oh yes, and as all post offices are closed, we can’t ship any orders today either. We’re really sorry about that, but our hands are just tied here. Most of our staff stayed at home too, but our 2 bosses came in to enjoy the silent working atmosphere. All the streets, highways and public transportation are really empty, which is so unusual for Hong Kong.
Typhoon Nesat has been on the news a lot, as it already hit the Philippines, where a lot of people died. Fortunately nothing that bad happened over here, but still a couple of people were injured. We found some videos and articles about it, that we want to share with you guys. For us it’s kind of strange to watch, because it looks a lot more dramatic than we experienced it. It was mainly a stormy day with a lot of rain .

Circle K (a shop similar to 7-11) has a special Rilakkuma promotion going on at the moment. For every 20 HKD (~US$2.6) spent, you get a small sealed package. Inside this package is a San-X sticker with a number printed on it. You also get a paper sheet at the shop where you can stick those stickers on. Once you have stickers worth 100 points collected, you can get a free gift. You can choose between a San-X luggage tag or 2 different kinds of pens. If you collect stickers worth 10,000 points, you get a big Rilakkuma plush for free. We are collecting already but it will take a while to get to 100 points. If we get the gift we will have a giveaway here on our blog and give it to one of our readers. Shall we choose one of the luggage tags or one of the pens?

these are the prizes you can get

paper sheet to collect the stickers

this is the small package you get with the sticker inside

Today I received a call from a man in Hong Kong who wanted to order Japanese food from us. As he didn’t speak English, I passed the phone to my colleague and he found out that this person saw our Japanese erasers on the web and thought we are selling Japanese food in Hong Kong. We had a big laugh afterwards. Our Japanese Food erasers look so realistic that people think we are selling real edible food. Now that is a funny story I will remember for a long time

Japanese Food Soba eraser from Japan by Iwako

Chinese noodle soup eraser from Japan by Iwako

Tuna Sushi eraser from Japan by Iwako

red mini snack eraser from Japan by Iwako

Dorayaki pancake eraser from Japan by Iwako

Green Tea eraser from Japan by Iwako

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Every year, every family decorates their home with red and golden decoration and flowers and all the shopping malls have huge displays. Some of them are really beautiful, some are very cute. People give lots of sweets as gifts to friends and family and therefore all the supermarkets are full with cookies, chocolates, candy and more. Hong Kong people like to give Japanese cookies and sweets, but the most popular one is the golden chocolate Ferrero Rocher. People here are crazy about them. In the supermarkets there are hundreds and hundreds of them on the shelfs. The reason why they are so popular is, that they are wrapped in golden foil which fits perfectly to the Chinese New Year deco.

2011 is the year of the rabbit

these bunnies are made with real flowers

cute Japanese girls figures

with cherry blossom

we received these Hello Kitty cookies by a friend

Japanese gift sets in a Hong Kong supermarket

the supermarkets are so full, you cannot walk anymore

who can eat all those cookies?

red and golden CNY deco for your home

My husband and I will be on holidays during the holidays to visit my family in Austria. Our packing staff will continue working in the office, so don’t worry about any shipping delays. All paid orders will be shipped within 1 business day as usual. We wish everyone a happy time with family, friends and workmates/classmates. Merry Christmas!

our Christmas header in our shop

During the Christmas season, Langham Place (a shopping mall in Mongkok, Hong Kong) has an awesome display with Hello Kitty called “Back to London“. All Hello Kitty figures are almost man-sized and absolutely adorable. There are always lots of people taking photos of each Hello Kitty, it was really hard to take some nice pictures. I tried my best and here are pictures of every Hello Kitty they show:

Hello Kitty Back to London poster

huge Hello Kitty plush figure

Hello Kitty dressed up as british police

Hello Kitty singer

cute Hello Kitty as a singer

Hello Kitty dressed with pink winter clothes

Christmas Hello Kitty with gingerbread cookies

Hello Kitty as London guard

bear as London guard

I love London Hello Kitty

cute Hello Kitty & Dear Daniel couple

me and Hello Kitty London guard

Dear Daniel as a photographer

Hello Kitty wearing a sparkling England dress

Sanrio's Big Ben with Hello Kitty ribbon

Hello Kitty Big Ben and Christmas deco in the background

Hello Kitty british red mailbox

red Hello Kitty double decker bus

Hello Kitty and friends on a red Hello Kitty bus

guess, who is the driver? Hello Kitty of course!

Sanrio's London Eye

London eye with Hello Kitty ribbon

I went to Taste, a local Hong Kong supermarket, today and found something really interesting: they had “fake” Kokka bedsheets! The beedsheets’ fabric is copied from the Matryoshka Animals Kokka fabric, the characters are just oversized. Even Kokka is not safe from fakes anymore. Have a look at the photos I took in the supermarket:

Kokka style bedsheets

the bedsheets do look cute though

Kokka style pillow

the complete bedsheets set

the original Kokka fabric they used for 'inspiration'