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Chopstick sleeves as emissaries of Japanese typography and culture
Nice article.

I have only one chopstick sleeve in my collection, a humorous, slightly risqué one from a ramen and gyoza shop in Yokohama that I frequent. Here is a photograph with transcription and translation:

https://gally.net/temp/20250120sanyochopsticksleeve/index.ht...

Another kind of commercial ephemera that people collect in Japan are the paper covers that bookstores provide for customers. Each bookstore typically has its own design. Here is one collector’s blog:

https://bookcoverfan.livedoor.blog/

Some bookstores also provide their own bookmarks. Here is a collection of those:

https://hyohyosya.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/09/13/%E3%81%97%...

Was just looking at your web page and really wish I had a copy of "Start Speaking Japanese Today" when I lived in a small town east of Fukuoka a couple decades ago.

#UnsolicitedTestimonial

Thank you! The book is out of date and better language-learning tools are available now, but if anyone might find an old-fashioned phrasebook/textbook useful or interesting, they can download the PDF for free, no strings attached:

https://www.gally.net/start/index.html

Wow, it's cool seeing you here! I used to lurk a lot on the honyakkers group and your posts were always very educational and entertaining. Cheers!
Thanks!
I was at Ichiran (ramen shop) today, I liked their chopstick sleeve - you can order extra noodles with it.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0d/e7/bb/a7/...

That said, before they translated it to English for the tourists, you could order more stuff with it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49277747203_7f23e589cf_b...

I used to collect them but gave up because it seemed to be never ending. Here are some: https://www.kmoser.com/chopsticks/
Everything they do is a thing of beauty, showing lots of effort, care and aesthetics. Even those warning signboards at construction sites or road and cable works.
There are quite a lot of not beautiful things once you actually live in Japan. So that might just be rose-tinted glasses.
True of most places.. But they do put a lot of effort into making ordinary things "cute" or artistic.

Like those construction site warnings or info boards. In most places it's just functional and bare. In Japan they add cartoon characters, nice layouts, fonts etc.

That was my point.

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That origami sleeve is sweet! I picked it up during my travels while watching an elderly patron perform the trick, but its great to see it in print.
I'm thinking the next time I have to spin up some swag for a conference, it will include hashiibukuro. Mostly just to be memorable.
  • vvpan
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  • 2 weeks ago
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I deleted my twitter account not too long ago and now more and more often I scroll down to the bottoms of websites hoping there is a Bluesky link and tada: there is. @letterformarchive.org
  • stewf
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  • 2 weeks ago
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We are proud to be part of what we hope is a trend among all orgs.
BTW, the link to Mastodon on the feet of your page doesn't seem to be working.
  • stewf
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  • 1 week ago
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Still? Working for me.
Now it works! Maybe it had a hiccup that day!