Perfect for scrapbooking and New Year’s nengajo cards.
As we race towards the end of the year, people in Japan are preparing to send out nengajo, New Year’s cards that can be popped off at the post office anytime from 15-25 December for guaranteed delivery on 1 January.
The custom of sending nengajo to friends and family is similar to the way people in Western countries send Christmas cards, although rather than buying the cards pre-made, people commonly buy them blank from the post office, as they’re sold like postcards with one side free for the user to decorate or print with either original or chosen designs.
Studio Ghibli fans will no doubt want to add a dash of anime magic to their New Year’s greetings, and here to help them do that is a new range of 2026 New Year’s stamps, featuring characters and motifs from My Neighbour Totoro.
All you have to do is press these into an inkpad and then stamp them on your New Year’s cards, using as little or as many of them as you like to create your own original designs.
The first stamp in the lineup, called “Spinning Top“, shows the Big Totoro unleashing the top with a rope, which is the traditional way to use Japanese spinning tops.
Umbrella in hand, and with Soot Sprites close by and auspicious winter berries on opposing corners, this image recalls the scene from the movie where Totoro flies through the sky on a spinning top with Satsuki and Mei, the two young stars of the film.
The next stamp is called “あけましておめでとうございます” (“Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu”) which means “Happy New Year“. Like the stamp above, this one features the Big Totoro, and befittingly they’re the largest of the bunch, and are priced at 1,870 yen (US$12.08) each.
Moving down a size, we have a stamp that features a row of white Small Totoros, with the oft-used New Year’s message “昨年は大変お世話になりました。今年も幸せな一年になりますように。” (“Sakunen wa taihen osewa ni narimashita. Kotoshi mo shiawase na ichinen ni narimasu you ni”), which means: “Thank you very much for all your support last year. I hope this year will be a happy one as well.”
▼ This sweet stamp is priced at 1,265 yen.
▼ Now we move on to the final three, which are all square-sized and equally priced, at 792 yen each.
This Small Totoro comes with the kanji characters “年賀” (“Nenga”) “New Year’s greetings”.
Plum blossoms are often seen on New Year’s cards as a harbinger of the new spring to come, and here they feature on the Soot Sprites and Plum Blossoms stamp.
The final stamp is “Ojigi”, or “bow”, which is what the Small and Medium Totoros are doing here, while holding forest leaves.
While the stamps are designed to be used for decorating nengajo, they can also add joy to diaries, letters, notes and scrapbooks, especially if you purchase the last two stamps, which can be used all year long. Whether you have a soft spot for the Small, Medium or Large Totoro, now is the perfect time to invite them into your home as Donguri Kyowakoku, the specialty chain that sells the stamps, also has a range of purses and porcelain dolls in their honour as well.
Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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