Accessorize Your Life: The Delightful Obsession with Japanese Bag Tags/Charms

 After numerous trips to Japan, I've finally succumbed to a local trend I used to only observe: adorning my handbag with charismatic, and often oversized, bag tags and charms. It's a joyful, infectious, and deeply characteristic piece of everyday Japanese fashion.

Assorted Charms

These accessories are far more than the simple keychains we see back home. They are bold declarations of personality. The must-have Labubu plushies are currently wildly popular, but the trend covers a spectrum: from chunky silicone anime characters and rubber mascots to astonishingly large plush dolls-I once saw a full-sized teddy bear-like anime figure dangling from a commuter's bag!

 
Streets of Osaka

Luxury Bags, Loud Charms

It doesn't matter your walk of life or your choice of carry-all. Everyone from students to business people participates. This is where Japan's unique sense of style truly shines: a love for being "out there" and different. You might be carrying a beautiful LV Neverfull or an Hermes Evelyn, but in Japan, that bag is merely a canvas. You want  to accessorize it with something that makes it yours. 

 

A sumo wrestler with a Labubu & an Osaka Expo Attendee

Think exclusive items like the Pikachu available only at Tokyo Central Station, Myaku-Myaku, the eye-catching mascot of the recent Osaka Expo, or just a random, beloved anime character. These charms inject character and a personal story into most functional part of your ensemble. For the true enthusiasts, one is never enough-you'll often see bags rocking a curated collection of two or three tags for maximum impact. Even my trusty overseas go-to, a regular Trader Joe's tote, now proudly display its own collection!

A Collector's Paradise (and a Traveler's Tip!)

If you're looking to dive into this trend, the best advice is to buy them in Japan. The selection is a collector's dream, offering an immense array of characters, limited-edition regional exclusives, and the latest trendy anime and mascots.

 

Limited Edition Starbucks Shibuya Bear & USJ Spy X Family Merch

More practically, items like the collectible Labubu plushies and anime charms are often priced far more affordably in Japan-sometimes for the original blind-box price of about $10-$20 USD-compared to the marked-up prices and limited availability in the US.

When you go, make sure to visit places like:

* Tokyo Central Station Character Street for all the major mascot shops.

* Nakano Broadway or Akihabara for vast selection of anime and second-hand collectible merchandise

* Gachapon (capsule toy) machines everywhere for cheap, random, and addictive little bag tags!

* Thrift stores such as Book-Off and Hobby-Off scattered all over the country

 

Harajuku crowd & us strolling through Ueno

It's an accessible, fun way to bring a piece of Japanese pop-culture home and express your personality every single day. Happy hunting! 

My most viewed

This was my most viewed unboxing. I was not even expecting it to go beyond 300, let alone by 2k+. Nothing really special about this figure and it's also based on the movie which most collectors are not that eager to buy. And again, I just want to thank all those who viewed this, just hope that somebody would comment why it's so popular.

Macro Shots

How I missed doing these style of photgraphy. It's just takes a lot of your time in getting the right shot. Lighting is the most important and getting the right angle would either break it or ruin the whole thing. After all that work, you then have to choose which photo that would represent your work and then edit to any specifications on what otcome you think is right. This is like gardening for me. Gives you the satisfaction on what the end result is, on how it turns out. Scare Glow Compound Hulk

Express Unboxing

I started doing unboxing videos where it only takes less than 5 minutes and some even less than 2. I'm at that point where spending 15 or more minutes someone open an item, talking about whats in their head while slowly taking a toy out of its box is a waste. I just want to see what it looks like out of the box, what it came with and whether its worth it or not.

Throwback 10 years ago

Was looking through my digital library of endless pics and I happen to stumble upon photos of our first San Francisco road trip.



Back then, I already have my DSLR and it gave me that feeling that with such an advanced camera, it would yield images that would be close to works of art, fit to be displayed in a museum. Strutting my camera all over the city, as if I'm a professional.



I'm not saying that they were bad. They were decent. But it would have been way better and closer to my present standards if I would have taken the time to at least learn the basics back then.



And looking through the properties of each photo, I had no idea back then how I was adjusting my cameras settings. On the bright side, at least I was not using our point and shoot.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mega Books Series 3 Codes

 It took me a a few minutes trying to sort out the packs, since most of the codes at the back were not stamped properly.

Series 3 TMNT MegaBloks Blind Packs

A03086MM - Space Donatello - Rare

A02086MM - Foot soldier (Krang) - Common

A04086MM - Leatherhead - Rare

A29076MM - Undies Mickey - Common

A28076MM - Ruby Raph - Common

A01086MM - Stealth Leo - Common

A08086MM - April - Ultra Rare

 There were none of the Secret Rare left. No code for now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mega Books Series 3 Codes

 It took me a a few minutes trying to sort out the packs, since most of the codes at the back was not stamped properly.

Series 3 TMNT MegaBloks Blind Packs

A03086MM - Space Donatello - Rare

A02086MM - Foot soldier (Krang) - Common

A04086MM - Leatherhead - Rare

A29076MM - Undies Mickey - Common

A28076MM - Ruby Raph - Common

A01086MM - Stealth Leo - Common

A08086MM - April - Ultra Rare

 There were none of the Secret Rare left. No code for now.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mega Bloks Series 2 Codes

 It's either I'm not searching hard enough or just too darn lazy. I'm really not into posting codes online but I've tried searching and all i got were a bunch of Youtube reviews that goes for at least 15 minutes. All I need is the code. Geez is that too much to ask?

 Here it is.

A15026MM - Donatello (Common)


A16026MM - Raphael (Common)

A17026MM - Michaelangelo (Ultra Rare)

A18026MM - Leonardo (Rare)

A19026MM - Spike (Rare)

A23026MM - Splinter (Common)

A24026MM - Mousers (Common)

A25026MM - Black Dragon Goon (Secret Rare)

SDCC 2014: Preview Night and Day 1

A few highlights to this years San Diego Comic-Con. Nothing has really changed. Same venue, almost the same vendors and the never ending same old lines.

Number of peeps also rose and navigating through the floors has somewhat more challenging every passing year.

SDCC 2014

It's preview night, but I'm already gearing up as early as 3AM. I had to, since i ask a few favors and the only possible way for me to be able to get this is by going at the convention center at 6:30 in the morning (9 hours earlier before the official opening of the con).

I had to pull a few strings this year since I'm so desperate.

I was supposed to sell my tickets, but had a change of heart. One thing is, I'm not as excited that i used to be. Oh well, as long as i have fun.

SDCC exclusive Swamp Thing

Crowded as it may be, the Con is still worth goin to. Three good reasons to go to would be, the latest updates with toys, cosplayers and exclusives.

Packaging comparison

One particular exclusive would be worth getting is Mattel’s DCU Swamp Thing.



Just by looking at it, you’d think that this was a statue. The only visible joints would be the hips and shoulders.

When previews came out on the web, they explained that the rest of the joints would be concealed and had some sort of an endoskeleton, but it was just an experiment and they wanted to find out how the public would react.





When I got hold of one, I immediately opened it expecting to get a grotesque figure of Barbie gone wrong. To my surprise, it was a decent figure.

Rubber feet

Yes, it was Barbie disguised as an action figure. But I liked it. I did not even bother how the boxed looked like, or with the packaging that it came with. Shaped in the Swamp Thing’s head, this by the way was made of pulp material.

Indeed, articulation was an issue. It was limited. But come on. I may not be that familiar with the character, but I don’t think you need to pose him like Snake Eye’s or Spider-Man having their limbs all stretched out. Correct me if I’m wrong but this guy looks slow. Like a couch potato that would barely even move to grab a soda sitting on a table in front of him.

Making him stand in one leg can be a task. Since both of his feet is mostly made of rubber.



Again, another issue would be the creases that would be visible once you started bending the joints. This is minimal and barely noticeable, probably because of the material they used for the skin which I think is made of rubber. And texture feels right. It sticks to your finger which adds character to the figure.

Creases on the elbow joints



Creases on the knee joints



The figures design was done with intricate details, from the mushrooms growing on the limbs, flowers blooming on his chest and the red eyes which add contrast. It was nicely done.

Besides the figure, it came with a base, a pamphlet, a box shaped as a head and the Un-Men.

Extras

Size comparison

If you were to grab any of the SDCC exclusives for this year, add this to your list, and you won’t be disappointed.

I rate this figure: 8.5 out of 10