Blythe Dolls in Tokyo

Have you heard of these dolls? They tend to be a bit like marmite - for non-british readers that means you either love or hate them. Here are just a few photos of Flickr of some. Lots more here.

Meanwhile on Etsy you can imagine all the accessories and actual dolls you can buy. I just saw a doll on there for £850. People take these things really seriously.

Personally I am not bothered by them. I can admire the artistry without wanting to get involved. That doesn't mean I wasn't intrigued though when I saw giant ones in a shop window in central Tokyo.

They were there to advertise Bottega Veneta handbags so the only items of relevance to the advertising part of this were the bags the dolls are holding.

As a spectacle though, you'd have to agree it is very eye catching.

There were a lot of excited, young, japanese women taking photos.

The shop was the Isetan in Shinjuku (the equivalent of London's Selfridges), the same one I mentioned in my last window display post. Meanwhile, in the slightly more downmarket Uniqlo, there were these:

These furry guys were in the middle of the shop with their own tie-in t-shirt display for a new film which was being trailed on the monitors.

Naturally I have no idea what the film is but if these guys are anything to go by it is possibly my kind of thing!