Hello Kitty is an icon and is a fitting image to start this series, nay the year, alas the decade!
Whenever we think of Japan we think of iconic cartoon-anime-like images. There's a hint of nostalgia as we're often transported to a time in our childhood where these icons were once our companions. This is what Sanrioworld, Ginza was like for my mother.
Hello Kitty was too expensive for my mum and her family growing up, so when she and I visited Sanrioworld she was excited to be able to buy her inner child something she did not have growing up. Unfortunately, Hello Kitty is still as iconic, if not more, so she was only able to buy herself a keychain. She sacrificed the big stuffed toys, cute hair-clip accessories and the notepads that she so dearly wanted when she was younger. Instead, she thought of others, children that she loved back home, my nieces and nephews. She said, "Let's buy this for them." And we did.
For me, Ginza was my mother's nostalgia and generosity.
As we start a new year, I urge you to continue the same spirit of giving that we carry at the end of each year. Think of others this decade and I promise, it will make the world just a little less difficult.
Love always,
sL xxx
