Nothing says I love you like Hello Kitty!

Every week in my supermarket there is a different 'stall' - crockery, kitchenware, furniture, clothes, seasonal food - and of course, who could forget the delightful laundry supplies as Christmas presents stall! Mostly, these stalls are up for 1 week then the next one comes in - and there is not an everlasting supply of different ones. Now I have been here 6 months I think I have seen most of them twice. At Christmas the laundry supplies were available for about 2 weeks, and it looks like the Valentine's Day products will be out for the next couple of weeks. Of course, there are the standard boxed chocolates selection, but this being Japan there are also some delightful other options. Most of your favourite cartoon characters can be found adorning a chocolate box - Kitty chan, Doraemon, Pokemon, the Dragon Ball Z characters and Snoopy. Of course, there is also some great engrish - my sweet happy heart (trans: i love you?), dear hold me (presumably "hold me dear" the wrong way around). Also, there is a surprisingly large collection of 'adult' candy on the open shelves (very rare in Japan, given that kind of stuff is usually only available in vending machines) - the best thing about the adult candy is that all the packaging is covered in photos of gaijin (foreigners) - seeming to say, there is no way a real japanese person would want this stuff!