Domo Explosion

He's here!

Of all the cutesy Asian characters- Hello Kitty, Astroboy ("Atom" over here), Dalki, Open John, Ampanman, Kapibarasan and Doremon- my favorite by a country mile is Domo. Last year, I blogged about all the Domo things that I was rapidly accumulating, but when we moved from Taiwan to Korea it all stopped. Why? Domo, whose fame had run out a few years ago in Japan, was all the rage in Taiwan but was unknown in Korea.

I am happy to report that about a month ago, this all changed. I first noticed some Domo things popping up when we went to a stationary store in Suwon. All of a sudden we could buy Domo notebooks, pencil cases, stickers and such. Then, when we were in Busan we saw Domo coffee mugs for sale (we bought three). In the weeks since, I've seen Domo's friendly face everywhere- from backpacks to mechanical pencil leads. When something hits in Korea, it hits big!

Domo pillows and fuzzy purses welcome shoppers to a store in the COEX.

A goldmine of Domo notebooks. I've already bought a bunch. I'm going to be the most professional looking education student in Canada next fall.

The aforementioned coffee mugs. Unfortunately, they leak really bad and when you wash them the water goes inside the mug and ruins the Domo picture :( Buy them for ornamental purposes only!

Domo brand mechanical pencil leads.

Domo brand correction tape- you really can get Domo everything!

In Korea, you know that something has hit it big when you can start to see rip off merchandise popping up for sale. Now, you can even buy fake Domo pencils and keychains as long as you don't mind that your Domo looks a little more "touched in the head" than usual.

Domo 4eva!