japanese book review: anpanman

If you've been following my collection of Japanese craft books (or even if you haven't!), by now we should all know that there's a lot of cute things coming out of Japan. Today's book features a very popular character: Anpanman. He's a superhero, and his head is made of bread. Bean-filled bread to be precise.

You can find episodes of the Anpanman cartoon online, but they're pretty much all in Japanese, as far as I've been able to tell. Sometimes, however, you can find them with subtitles, like this one. More details on the book at the end of the post, but now...on to Anpanman and Energetic Three Colleagues: Part 3 (gotta love Google Translate on these titles!)




There are lots of characters in this series, and many of them have food for heads. Seriously? I love this stuff! The book shows you how to make all of these fantastic finger puppets, plus other figures too. I'd really like to make this choo-choo for my train-loving brother. Do you think he'll appreciate the cuteness as much as I do?



Of course, there's also some odd items. Like the Anpanman bathroom set. Or not pictured here, the seat cushion you can also wear as a hat. For real.




Apart from the cuteness factor that these characters bring, the projects in this book, overall, are still worth the price of this one (which wasn't even all that much). There are games, toys, a diaper bag, pencil toppers, a quiet book, a wallet, and more! Lots of great ideas! It even has a pullout section of full size patterns.




And then you reach the end. And it's sad. But wait...because I didn't show you my favorite thing in the whole book! Let's go back a few pages...



A felt takoyaki set! I'd never eat the real deal, but I sure do think they're cute!

The ISBN for this title is 9784529045094, and you can find it on YesAsia.com. Here's the fun part: Google Books has a preview of more of the pages! Enjoy!