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Window Shopping

 

Pacific shortcut

 

by Silas Ruppe

 

Why cross the Pacific Ocean when Japan is as close as Upper Arlington? Seriously, the Land of the Rising Sun is hiding just behind Staples in the Kenny Centre Mall.

 

Walking into Hana Gifts is like stumbling headfirst into Tokyo. The 15-year-old gift shop serves as a small hub for Columbus' Japanese community, along with its neighbors, a Japanese grocery store and restaurant.

 

Hana (Japanese for "flower") is a comforting cultural outpost to the Japanese customers who make up the majority of its business. Customers can enjoy Japanese TV (broadcast via satellite) and a wide selection of imported magazines, movies, books, CDs and comics. To the curious foreigner, it's the best tourist shop you've ever seen.

 

Hana stocks all manner of goods, from decorations with cross-cultural appeal (like bamboo lanterns and shoji screens) to stationery and geisha dolls. Here are three highlights to save you the cost of that plane ticket.

 

Hello Kitty

 

Cutting-edge technology is one of Japan's chief exports. The other is a cutey-patooty cat drawn so simply she doesn't even have a mouth: the one, the only Hello Kitty.

 

Hana Gifts carries the cultural icon on everything for beyond reasonable prices (very little is priced above 10 bucks). You can snuggle up to your Hello Kitty plush toy, brush your teeth, take notes, frame pictures and bake cookies with the Japanese institution who rakes in half a billion dollars a year.

 

Cards

 

The appropriate window for holiday thank-you cards is closing, but score your friend a gorgeous Hana Gifts card and you could wait till March. You'll be forgiven.

 

Designed and manufactured by Kyoto-based company Fukui Asahido, the cards feature traditional Japanese art on high-quality paper, some with a little shine. At around $3 apiece, they might not make sense for a bulk mailing, but you couldn't ask for a prettier greeting.

 

Dining Sets & Dishes

 

If you've always dug the look of Asian dishes, but were saddled with the parental hand-me-downs, Hana has you covered—with dining sets ranging from $13 to $30. There are individually sold dishes and teakettles. You can even eat that take-out in style with a set of decorative chop sticks ($3).

 

January 11, 2007

 

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