In November to December, shops in Japan are full of special Rabbit items for the New Year. Here are some of what we've spotted.

New Year's ornaments at Takashimaya department store in Nagoya.

Well, it's not all rabbits, only mostly rabbits...

We bought these papier mache snow bunnies - in a red sake cup, and on bamboo leaves...

...and this for hanging your bag on the side of the cafe table - it works in a bus too, as I've just found out :-)

Christmas illumination outside the store: Bear on the piano, Hedgehog singers, Rabbit on the harp, and is that a Fox on... oboe??

BTW, everyone's having their photos taken here, including this guy who obviously wishes he was in the band. (Sorry about the non-bunny image.)

These are available all year round: music speakers for your iPod, where the animals dance to the music. Rabbits and bears seem to be the most popular.

Suntory do special New Year editions of their whiskies every year. We liked the bottle, but didn't buy it in the end.
Instead, we went for this special New Year's sake - Dewazakura from Yamagata, North Japan. The bunny on the box is also on the back of the stylish bottle. And the sake itself is dry, crisp and yet mellow, absolutely delicious. (Shame there's only 350ml of it. Well, this is our second bottle, in fact :-)
And some New Year's sweets that we saw...

A bunny roll cake from Tsuruya Yoshinobu - what a simple idea! (Scroll down the link, there is another seasonal bunny cake there.)


"Rabbit Waiting for the Spring" (depicting a rabbit in snow, looking forward to the spring) from Toraya.
Again, very simple and beautiful.
So... Happy New Rabbit Year to you all again!

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