The trend for bath products still seems to be for them to look as much like food as possible.
One of my reasons for taking a day trip from Kyoto to Fukuoka this time (the main reason was to meet someone doing one of my courses!) was to stop in to the amazing Kurenai-ya branch in Fukuoka's Canal City shopping centre (which is otherwise depressingly full of Western shops). I discovered the shop a few years ago, and bought some t-shirts there for himself and myself that are about to fall apart from loving regular use. I excited wandered around the shop looking at all the stuff that I would happily buy given half an excuse, then went to find the t-shirts. Except there weren't any. After going around the (small) shop twice, I asked the staff and it turns out they were switching from their short sleeve to long sleeve range and didn't have anything in stock. Noooo!
But I remembered that I'd found one of their t-shirts at Narita a few years ago, so I made a note to look there on the way back, and got lucky! I got one for himself, a Mount Sakura one for me (the active volcano in the bay of Kagoshima City, I nearly got it two years ago but they didn't have it in my size), and an amazing "Hiroshige Project" one from another manufacturer that I hadn't seen before. The embroidered back is just amazing. ^_^ I also splashed out on a top made from modern materials but with traditional kimono designs, made by a small Kyoto company who had a temporary stand at the airport.
The back of the Sakura-jima t-shirt on the left, the front of the Hiroshige Project one in the middle, and the kimono-inspired one on the right.
The back of the gorgeous Hiroshige project t-shirt. It's a bit hard to see, but there's also red embroidery around the cranes.
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