Land of Kiddy

Lucinda and I next went to Kiddy Land, a four-story, licensed-toy palace that encapsulates the Japanese fixation with cuteness. The store's motto is "for the human smile."



Choose a character from TV or books or someone's obnoxiously adorable imagination and then explode the boundaries of licensing and marketing - and you have Kiddy Land. The merch is copious and colorful, a bonanza of "Hello Kitty" and lesser-known soft creatures.




The character "Usaru". And bananas with faces.





I thought the "Rody" was just a bouncy horse - wrong!




Pens, notebooks, plush toys, key chains, silverware, chopsticks, lunch boxes, plastic toys, erasers, name labels, coffee cups - whatever you can think of, starring Madeline, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Gaspard and Lisa, Anpanman, Elmo or unnamed stuffed bears in 20 colors.







I escaped with the 800-yen purchase (about $7) of two Playmobil toys.