Japan’s unique blend of time-honoured tradition, trailblazing modernity and the capacity to incorporate both into daily life has a lot to do with why so many visitors find it so beguiling. In popular culture, certain trends, characters, books, movies and (yes) foodstuffs have gained such a following they’ve spawned an entire sub-culture. The term ‘Wapanese’, from the English ‘want to be Japanese’ is a perfect example, as is the devotion with which those Wapanese often cultivate their Wapaneseness.

HyperJapan returns to London’s Tobacco Dock between July 14-16 this year, bringing with it all the manga, cosplay and amazing food you can shake a [kendo] stick at. In the meantime we thought we’d take a look at five Japanese things that collectors can’t seem to do without.

Miyazaki Hayao (Studio Ghibli)

Clockwise from top left Mal Made Store, Tempesta Couture, CherryLoco Jewellery, Blue Potion UK

Yes, of course we can’t deny that Disney inspires its own brand of complete devotion, but Miyazaki Hayao – the modern master of Japanese animation – has his own following which is similarly enraptured. If Disney is princesses and fairy stories, Miyazaki’s movies are a good deal more grounded: their protagonists are often female, but the world they inhabit seems at once more complicated and more childlike. In any case, the merchandising for Studio Ghibli is nowhere near as prolific as its American counterpart, and it has spawned a rather wonderful culture of creation among its fans. A brief look at sites like Etsy reveals uncountable offerings of your favourite characters presented in various forms, from clothing to clocks, pictures to pens.

The London Movie Meet Up group are big fans: they showed When Marnie Was There recently and new movie, Your Name (by long-time Ghibli animation director, Masashi Ando) is slated to be screened on November 26th. Elsewhere in London, the BFI have an ongoing love affair with the movies and are a great place to check out from time to time.

Cosplay

We were at ComicCon a while ago, and we spoke to a few collectors, including Ulquiorra from Bleach (see below). We were extremely impressed with the attention to detail these folks go to to replicate their favourite characters’ attire. This is, as iFanboy says, “not merely costuming, but a very unique form of performance art”, and the intensity with which those involved in the Cosplay world throw themselves into the detailing of their costumes certainly speaks to that. The skill involved in recreating some of those costumes is amazing, so we hope they’ve all got somewhere nice and spacious to keep their fastidiously crafted masterpieces.

Seeing as there’s a certain amount of DIY involved in this work, you’re more likely to get the best costumes directly from the cosplayers themselves. Over on the Cosplay Island website you’ll find a comprehensive list of specialists knocking up weird and wonderful creations across the country, London included.

Kimono

It’s probably not a surprise that the Guinness Book record holder for number of Kimonos is Japanese. Fukiko Higuchi’s collection of 3,045 garments* were being kept in storage near her home, but “she is now buying kimono less frequently due to dwindling storage space” according to the Japan Times. It’s nice to know that even Guinness Book record holders aren’t immune from knowing where to put things…

Kimono – and their more informal, summery cousin, the yukata – are easy pickings for the Japanophile. As Fukiko said, it’s fairly easy to find secondhand offerings in Japan, and it’s no different back here in London. The fashion for kimono as a kind of luxe bathrobe has meant that they often turn up in vintage shops as well as in specialist shops like Wafuku. If they’re stored properly and kept out of sunlight they’ll last a very long time indeed, and when folded they really don’t take up that much room, so it’s no wonder collections can amass so quickly.

*When counted in 2015. Who knows? It could be more now, if she’s found somewhere to put them.

Cute little cuddly things

Mascots are massive in Japan. The New York Times commented, with more than a touch of dry wit: “Osaka Prefecture alone was found to be supporting 92 of them, including two different dogs for separate tax departments and a caped, flying hot-water bottle representing pharmaceutical regulation. The governor ordered a cull.”

“Japanese people have this desire to take the sharp edges off things, to take hard things and make them soft,” said Hiromi Kano in the same article, and it’s hard to feel bad about anything when those doe-eyed squishies are looking so lovingly at you. Kitty Chan (Hello Kitty, to us non-Japanese folk) is, apparently, at the end of her working life and will be presumably be quietly taken to a nice cat cafe sometime soon, but there are loads of other little cutesy critters vying to take her place.

If you’re looking to stock up on Japanese cuteness here in the UK, TokyoToys is probably your best bet. Their London store is currently closed for refurbishment (at the time of writing), but they’ve got outlets in Brum and Glasgow. What’s a train ride between kawaii friends?

Figurines

If you’ve ever been berated for your figurine collection, take note. A couple of years ago a Japanese figurine sold at auction for around a million pounds. Now, full disclosure, it wasn’t exactly last year’s Evangelion release that so excited buyers (this example was dated around 2,999 years before that) but the point is: figurines have a kind of enduring fascination. It seems unlikely that your collection of One Piece statues might ever fetch quite this amount, but you never know…

Still, the incredible detailing on these figurines means they’re typically not a cheap thing to collect. On a forum last year, one cash-strapped user commented that he, “makes my money for figures by donating plasma”. Blimey. Though, to be fair, they did subsequently comment that they now just “budget better”. Still…

Manga

Most Londoners with manga fixations will probably buy their translated copies of Naruto or Death Note from online stockists. However, a day in Central London can offer a peep into the oh-so-serious and library-like world of the authentic ‘manga-ya’. For a surprisingly realistic Japanese afternoon, head to Shoryu Go on Air Street for the best ramen in the capital, and then bumble along to Adanami Shobo on Brewer Street (under the “De-Luxe Cleaning” sign). The latter is stocked top to bottom with manga books, anime DVDs and J-pop CDs, and the shop assistant is about as non-verbal as any you’ll find in a Tokyo equivalent. You can even stick around until the evening, when they turn the back rooms into a series of realistic karaoke booths. With the Japan Centre (“Japa-sen” to its fans) only metres away, it’s no wonder that the area has the little-known nickname, Little Japan.

O-Bento

Grace at eatsamazing.co.uk chronicles her obsession with packing gorgeous lunch boxes that look too good to eat, and they’re as authentic as a weekly shop at Tesco is ever going to allow. Boxed lunches are a mainstay of the working day for students and office workers alike in Japan, and presumably in part to abate the boredom that comes with having to pack up a lunch everyday, some creative souls in Japan started making them look amazing. The trend has slowly crept over the oceans in recent years and now there’s a pretty good selection of the little accessories that you might need to make your bento box that little bit cuter. Sure, it’s a bit time consuming, but if it gets your kids/ husband/ girlfriend to eat their lunches, it’s got to be worth a shot, right?

Bento bits and bobs can be found via Grace’s website, but also at the Japan Centre and Mon Bento, to name but a few and the internet (and Pinterest!) is awash with creative ideas to replace your boring cheese sandwich. And if you’re after something a tad more minimalist, try the Box Appetit collection from London bento experts, Black & Blum.

Whether you need room for your ever-growing manga collection, those beautiful kimonos you’ve been accumulating or a mountain of Japanese character soft toys, Boxman can help keep your precious haul safely stored away. We’ll deliver our sturdy boxes straight to your door, leave you time to pack them up and then whisk them away to our storage facility when you’re ready. Easy peasy. All for just £5 per box per month, leaving you plenty of time to get on with other, more interesting things.