Holy crap. Muji better have about ten thousand of these chalkboard globes at the SoHo store when it opens November 16th. Otherwise, I will be leading the Great Muji Riot of '07. And they might want to have a few on hand for someone else, too.
Blackboard Globe, £6.95 [muji.eu via swissmiss]
Muji opening date revealed! [racked]
Sweet! We've been looking for a globe for the kid... this is pretty cool, AND interactive. (It also solves the problem of how to slyly insert the nation of "West Xylophone" onto the globe...)
I'm totally jealous that you're getting a Muji in New York (although I'm sure Vancouver is high on their list considering how other Japanese outfits are setting up here... we get a Beard Papa and a second Daiso soon... hint hint, you hear me, Muji overlords?).
Of course, I'll be in Tokyo in one week, so I'm not that jealous... wonder how big this thing is... it had better be suitcase-friendly!
[strangely, no dimensions, and I can't find it on the japanese site. -ed.]
We opted for a stuffed cotton fabric globe for the kids when they were 4, because they could abuse it all day long and it wouldn't care. Plus it was comfy to lie upon.
Now that they're older, we have a laminated South-at-the-top map on the wall, but they still like to look up things on the globe as well.
Going off the price and the grain on that base, I'd say it's no bigger than a softball (unfortunately).
That is wonderful. Must have. We only get up to nyc a few times a year, so the muji store should certainly be up and running by the next visit. I was disappointed that they aren't going to carry the muji kids' stuff (that's the last I heard in any case), but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
This just on the Times site: The Joke Behind the Muji Brand.
[the reality is more complicated, but it's pretty funny to imagine people imagining a guy named Muji. -ed.]
A followup: it turns out that the globes don't actually have the outlines of the continents on them. Bah! The Muji site totally misrepresented this one. Since it'd cost a pile to send 'em back to Nottingham, it looks like I've lost a few punt on this raw deal.
[huh? Is this some kind of British humor? If not, I'd demand very loudly for Muji replace your obviously defective globes. -ed.]
Followup #2: Message from Muji:
"The globes do not come with the outline drawn on them. This can be seen on the front page of the website where a customer can click and it sends you to the Christmas gift section."
Well, color me stupid for not looking at the front page of their website first! [/snark]