Hello Kitty Coffee Tumblers

Hello Kitty may be known all over the world but here in Japan, Hello Kitty is fully integrated into society. Spend an afternoon on the trains or sitting at a coffee shop and you’ll see people with Hello Kitty cellphone faceplates, handbags with Hello Kitty on them, laptops with HK on the top cover, shirts with Hello Kitty, and the list goes on and on.

When I moved to Japan several years back, I would chuckle under my breath whenever I saw an adult sporting anything with the Hello Kitty logo. After a couple of girlfriends and becoming accustomed to Japanese society, I’ve come to appreciate Hello Kitty. Well, perhaps ‘appreciate’ is not the appropriate term; for me Hello Kitty is ‘dasakawa’, so uncool it becomes cool.

Myself, I have collected several Hello Kitty theme minidisc players, a couple of yoyo’s, a bicycle bell, and now I can add coffee tumblers to my list.

These coffee tumblers are only available in Japan and at the convenient store, Mini-stop. This is a three cup set and available only in the month of June. The cups hold 12 ounces of your liquid of choice and have a snap-cover which does a good job.

Granted, I’d have preferred 16-ounce cups but I can always get one of those boring stainless steel models…

The tan model…

The red polka-dot version…

and the classic logo…