New Studio Ghibli stamps – Too cute to wait until New Year’s to use, so they’re available right now

Totoro and the Catbus stamps from Studio Ghibli have been released for this year's New Year's cards, or nengajo as they are called in Japanese. These adorable stamps are part of a lineup that features various Totoro designs and are available right now, not just for the New Year's season. In Japan, sending New Year's cards is a custom practiced at the end of the year, a busy period due to the vacation time between December and January.

The stamps showcase a variety of designs, each featuring Totoro, the forest spirit, and the Catbus. One stamp shows Totoro playing his ocarina while Small Totoro sits on his head, accompanied by the Japanese New Year's greeting written in kanji characters. The phrase 'geishun', used in written greetings, is made up of 'welcoming' (迎) and 'spring' (春) in kanji.

These stamps are not limited to New Year's cards only. They can be used to stamp any part of your inkpad where kanji characters would come into contact with the ink, creating a cute Totoro stamp anywhere you'd like. The stamp with Small Totoro riding a ram symbolizes the Chinese zodiac animal for 2027, but can be used throughout the year.

The Soot Sprite design, featuring a stylized Catbus, includes traditional Japanese good luck items like a fan, a top, and a gourd. These items are particularly suitable for New Year's, but they could also fit well on any letter or note you're sending to someone you wish good fortune to. Lastly, the Catbus stamp has the famous feline running towards "Omedetou gozaimasu" (Happy New Year) written in phonetic hiragana script for easy readability.