Chopstick sleeves as emissaries of Japanese typography and culture

Nice article.

I have only one chopstick sleeve in my collection, a humorous, slightly risqué one from a ramen and gyoza shop in Yokohama that I frequent. Here is a photograph with transcription and translation:

https://gally.net/temp/20250120sanyochopsticksleeve/index.ht...

Another kind of commercial ephemera that people collect in Japan are the paper covers that bookstores provide for customers. Each bookstore typically has its own design. Here is one collector’s blog:

https://bookcoverfan.livedoor.blog/

Some bookstores also provide their own bookmarks. Here is a collection of those:

https://hyohyosya.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/09/13/%E3%81%97%...

I used to collect them but gave up because it seemed to be never ending. Here are some: https://www.kmoser.com/chopsticks/

I'm thinking the next time I have to spin up some swag for a conference, it will include hashiibukuro. Mostly just to be memorable.

Everything they do is a thing of beauty, showing lots of effort, care and aesthetics. Even those warning signboards at construction sites or road and cable works.

That origami sleeve is sweet! I picked it up during my travels while watching an elderly patron perform the trick, but its great to see it in print.

I deleted my twitter account not too long ago and now more and more often I scroll down to the bottoms of websites hoping there is a Bluesky link and tada: there is. @letterformarchive.org