Totoro’s traditional snack time may not fill up our stomachs, but it’ll fill our hearts with warm fuzzy feelings . “Sweet” is a pretty good way to describe the feeling fans get from watching My Neighbor Totoro . For pretty much the entire runtime of the anime film, the stakes are low and there’s little, if anything, that could be called a conflict driving the plot forward.
Even when a crisis does eventually occur, it’s resolved in a matter of minutes, and the lasting impression is one of comforting sweetness comparable to a nice dessert. So why not keep running with that feeling and pair Totoro with a series of desserts for an adorable line of accessories? That’s just what the designers at Studio Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku have done with their Totoro Wagashi Burarin Series . Burarin , loosely translated, means “dangly,” while wagashi has a much more definitive translation: Japanese sweets Each of the four charm designs features Totoro enjoying a traditional, iconic Japanese dessert.
In the one pictured directly above, for example, he’s got two skewers of dango (mochi dumplings), enough to share with a Small Totoro buddy, and also a bowl of matcha green tea to sip. Other options on the figurative menu consist of an ichigo daifuku (mochi dumpling with a strawberry inside of it), taiyaki red snapper-shaped cake filled with sweet red beans..
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.and sakura mochi , specifically the Domyoji-style version of the treat, popular in Kansai (central Japa.