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Recent Trends Stirring Our Emotion
Lately, there have been many exciting and nostalgic news pieces that evoke a sense of girlish excitement for 30-something women. For instance, Sailor Moon merchandise has been released at Three Coins stores, and Ojamajo Doremi gachapon machines have made an appearance.
Sailor Moon and Ojamajo Doremi have been around for many years and fit perfectly into the current "kawaii" (cute) trend, making their revival quite understandable. However, there was an even more heartwarming encounter, or rather, reunion, with a beloved character.
An Impressive Reunion at a Passing Miscellaneous Store
On that day, the weather outside wasn't particularly good, and I was walking through a shopping mall I don't usually frequent on my way to the station. I wasn't specifically looking for anything, so I just briefly glanced at the magazine corner of a bookstore.
But as I was about to pass by a certain store, I couldn't help but come to a halt.
To my surprise, there was a section in Kiitos, a unique and fashionable miscellaneous store, filled with various trendy and character goods. And among them was a merchandise display of a character that looked incredibly familiar—Busy Town!
Busy Town (The Busy World of Richard Scarry) is an educational children's animated series. It's reminiscent of E-Tele's programs like "Inai Inai Ba" and "Okasan to Issho."
Pouches, clear files, sticky notes, and letter sets adorned with illustrations of Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm (I could be mistaken as I'm relying on my memory) were prominently displayed in the store.
Above all, when I was little, I was shown many Busy Town videos. I vaguely remember not understanding what was written on the video covers, so they were probably in English. It was one of the materials used for English input during my childhood, so to speak—an origin of English learning.
I remember being excited when I heard the music from the opening theme song or the sound of a helicopter. Although educational shows were widely watched in both Japanese and English, this one was special because it was on VHS, and I could only watch it if my mother set it up.
But Wait... I Didn't Remember the Anime Title...
However, I actually didn't remember the title of this anime. Despite being able to talk about it to this extent, I didn't remember it well. Maybe it was because, during my childhood, I didn't often remember the titles of shows but instead referred to them as "Wanwan's program" (referring to the dog character) or "The store with a leaf symbol" when we were talking about "Life" supermarket among family members. I have memories of the kindergarten teacher persistently trying to help me remember the store name, even though I didn't know it at all, and it became quite tough.
So, due to such experiences, when I passed by the front of the miscellaneous store, I had a moment of surprise when our eyes met, but at first, I couldn't remember where I had encountered this character before.
It was only later, when I saw an explanatory note placed near the character goods section, that I realized it was a character I had seen in my childhood.
Looking for Other Merchandise
In the end, I made a few small purchases and subtly incorporated them into my daily life. But afterwards, I searched on Google to see if there were any other merchandise. I tried searching with keywords and even inputting the distinctive character's name, but I couldn't find anything at all.
Though the information I found online is not entirely reliable, it seemed like it was featured on the "Hirake! Ponkikki" TV program, but I couldn't find much information on Japanese websites. The only thing I found was a promotion of the book series at a specialized bookstore, but I couldn't find any information about merchandise being sold. I wonder where it suddenly emerged from.
However, I discovered on a blog that there were videos available on YouTube. I checked it out, and sure enough, they were there!
The impression of the apple helicopter from the opening remained vivid in my memory, and watching the videos made me feel incredibly nostalgic.
Another Surprising Incident at Home
When I returned home and showed my husband the photo I took of the merchandise display, along with the story of this touching reunion, he revealed that he knew about Busy Town too.
Like me, he had no idea what it was, but he remembered it only as being familiar. But considering that he was the one who was surprised when he saw Cookie Monster and said, "Elmo has a friend! I think it is amazing that he remembers these characters.
By the way, the name of the shop where I found the merchandise, "Kiitos," means "thank you" in Finnish. It made me feel grateful and say "thank you" for this wonderful reunion.
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