Specialising in handmade double walled glass tumblers that feature shapes inspired by cute animals and characters, Goodglas Japan has become a bit of a hit recently amongst Japan’s tableware community. The glass’ inner wall takes the shape of an adorable character (such as these Kimono-clad Shiba Inu glasses), that you can then fill out with the colour of a drink of your choosing.

Goodglas Japan’s most recent addition to their double walled character glasses is the Gongitsune glass which will be making its debut from November 28th 2020.

The double walled glass short tumbler will be available to purchase from the Goodglas Japan online shop, or as a hometown tax refund item for Handa city on the furusato nose website furupo.com (this is available for those who live outside of the town only, who are willing to contribute towards the town’s tax payments). Both websites are taking reservations and will ship out the items from November 28th.

Gongitsune is a Japanese short story written by the author Niimi Nankichi (born in Handa City, Aichi Prefecture) in 1939. The tale follows a small fox named Gon and the troubles and mischief he causes in a Japanese village as he tries to find food to survive.
One day, he steals an eel in front of a villager called Hyojo, which he had planned to give to his sick old mother. Following the incident, Hyojo’s mother dies. Gon feels bad for what he has done and attempts to redeem himself by ‘gifting’ Hyojo with things he has stolen from the other villagers, but the plan backfires when Hyojo is accused of stealing and beaten up. After that, Gon turns to gifting Hyojo with foraged foods like nuts and mushrooms from the forest. Hyojo is grateful for the gifts, but remains unaware of who they come from.
One day, Hyojo watches Gon sneaking around the village, and, blaming him for the death of his mother, he shoots and kills him. It is only afterwards that Hyojo comes to realize that Gon is the one who had gifted him with all the foraged foods.

Japanese tales don’t often come with a happy ending, and this one created by Nankichi is a fine example of that. Readers and fictional story enthusiasts may find the tale not too dissimilar to the tale of Gelert the dog, in which the dog is slain by his own master as he finds the dog covered in blood and his baby boy missing. After the dog’s dying yelp, the master finds the dead body of a great wolf and his son playing happily (and healthily) nearby. It turned out that Gelert had in fact killed the wolf in order to protect his master’s child.

Perhaps both stories share the moral conclusion that it is not a good idea to jump to conclusions.

The Goodglas Gongistune design tumbler can be pre-ordered from Goodglas Japan Official online shop or from JTB Hometown Tax Payment Portal Site ‘Furapo’ as a tax contribution payment refund item for Handa City, Aichi Prefecture.