It’s safe to say that souvenirs are a big part of Japanese culture, and with the world’s top leaders gathering in Mie Prefecture for the G7 Iseshima Summit 2016, it would be unthinkable to let any visitor leave without a little something to take home with them.

Not surprisingly, though, it looks like Japan has it all sorted out, and has recently announced the official souvenir for the G7 summit. It’s a familiar item, but one with the potential to both entertain and educate the people who receive them.

Chosen as Japan’s official souvenir is the Kabuki Face Pack ISESHIMA, a face pack that allows you to wear the Kumadori makeup worn by kabuki actors.

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Source: PR Times

The kabuki face mask will be passed out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to 4,000 visiting participants of the summit, including members of representing groups and foreign media, among others. It will also be sold in stores in Japan from May 26th for 900 yen (8.20 USD) in limited supplies.

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Source: PR Times

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Source: PR Times

Although the kabuki face mask has been sold in stores since it first came out in 2013, this souvenir version is specially packaged with the Iseshima Summit logo, as well as a design using Mie Prefecture’s traditional paper, Ise-katagami, as the motif. Inside, it also has a brief explanation of the history and tradition of kabuki written in both English and Japanese.

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Source: PR Times

The mask itself has won various design awards both Japanese and foreign, and was initially designed with hopes that kabuki will become known and appreciated by people outside of Japan as an important aspect of Japanese traditional culture. In addition to the kabuki face mask, there are a myriad of other excellent designs, such as limited edition One Piece Kabuki masks, Attack On Titan masks, and many, many more.

Informative and entertaining to use, we think anyone would be happy to receive such a uniquely Japanese gift.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.