Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Happy Children’s Day - Free Gift Set Upgrade on 5th May Only!
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 by tomonoIt’s already 5th May in Japan which is a national holiday called Kodomonohi or Tango no Sekku - “Children’s Day”
To celebrate Kodomonohi, I would like to give you a magic word to upgrade any baby kimono order to a Sakura Gift Set for free only on 5th May.
The magic word is ‘kodomonohi‘
All you have to do is write this word before you confirm your order in the shopping cart and you will get a free upgrade to a gift set - a saving of £10!
It’s been 2years since I had first Tango no Sekku for my son Oscar. I could not have flying carp on the roof but had a party with friends.
I guess I just like any excuse to party!
I suppose to go for a picnic with my Japanese friends tomorrow but it might be another moody cold English day……
My Latvian friend Ineta told me they have name day ( everyday has a name in the calendar and it is celebrated like a little birthday!).
Do you have any unusual calendar in your country?
Boys day ornament
Boy's day mochi
Tomono x
cocoro catches the little red bus!
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 by lewisCocoro was featured on the Little-Red-Bus website and we are so happy!
http://community.little-red-bus.com/
Tomono x
Where do you shop on-line?
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 by tomonoOn my bookmarks I have my favourite shops for my midnight therapy after my boy & hubby have gone to bed.
Most of my bookmarks are Japanese shops but it’s bit difficult to arrange shipping overseas. However, I recently found fab on-line shops in the UK and sometime go into these shops to find something unique.
http://www.giftwrappedandgorgeous.co.uk/index.htm
This is one of our friend’s friend shop and they inspire me so much for the gift ideas!
I also love these shops,too!
http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/
http://www.howies.co.uk/
http://www.boden.co.uk/
I’d love to know where you shop on-line, too!
T x
Customer Survey Winner! And a treat for everyone who entered…
Monday, March 29th, 2010 by tomonoThank you ever so much for helping us on survey the other day. The winner was Ally from the UK. The baby kimono was sent to one of her friends this week!
I’m sorry if you didn’t have luck this time but I really appreciate your help with our survey so we can provide you with an even better service in the future.
As a thank you, I’d like to give everyone who completed the survey a special coupon code with which you can upgrade to a Sakura Baby Kimono Gift Set when you buy a regular baby kimono - a saving of £10!
All you have to do is buy a regular baby kimono and proceed through the checkout. Just before you confirm your order you will see a text box with “Please leave a note to us with your order if you want to”
Write Sakura Gift Set in the box and then click ‘Confirm Your Order’.
That’s it. All done.
Here is a mesage from the winner of the customer survey, Ally
“Wow, can’t get over this, I never win anything, what lovely news to come into on a Monday morning - thank you very very much!”
Sakura Baby Kimono Gift Set
I’m happy that we made her day!
Tomono x
No more baby words?
Monday, January 18th, 2010 by tomonoDin-din, doggy, wee-wee, mummy and daddy…. Do you use baby words with your baby?
While I was in Japan I was talking to my son using Japanese baby words, my friend heard it and told me it is such a bad idea according to Kayoko Kubota (site in Japanese).
So I got her book and learned a little bit about her philosophy. She is nearly 80 years old and believes 0-1year old is the most important stage to develop the brain. Her husband is neuroscience professor in Kyoto University and she read his text books and studied by herself while she was pregnant.
She soon found if she connected to neuroscience and friends and family to motherhood experience, that would be something interesting. She strongly believes stimulating Frontal Association Cortex till 1year old develops a good brain.
It all sounds difficult but what she is telling us is very easy. She is now looking into not only brain development but also what can help make them into good leaders in the future.
What made me fall in love with her book was a bit of brain development but her down to earth character and her foul mouth. She is quite funny….
Here are some of her tips for parents with a 0-1year old
- Always talk to your baby when you are changing their nappy to let them hear you and see your expression.
- Try peek-a-boo more than 5times a day to help them concentrate on one point.
- Dress in colourful clothes to develop colour sensation.
- Try using a sling as much as possible to let them experience your side.
- Don’t use baby words. They only confuse them when you try to teach proper words later.
- Don’t let baby use chopsticks/knife&fork/pens by themselves but show them how to use them many times. Encouraging copying stimulates the brain.
- Let baby have choice and ask her/him “Which one would you like?” It helps making decisions.
Well Oscar is already nearly 2years old… is it a bit too late? Thankfully, she has got so many good ideas for toddlers, too.
I’ll share them in a later post.
Tomono x
The problem with care labels…
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 by tomonoEvery winter I have such a dry skin and so does my little boy.
Oscar’s eczema has almost gone now but he still scratches the back of the neck. I was wondering why he always has a little redness on only that part of the body and soon found out it was from itchy care labels.
Nowadays, we buy clothes from shops which have stores internationally and the care labels are outrageously massive. Even you cut them off the sharp edge are still itchy, don’t you think?
So what cocoro introduced for little sensitive babies is to put our brand labels outside the kimono and put the care label on top of the inside layer - preventing it from touching the skin.
I hope our kimonos are not only super cute but super comfortable for your little one!
Oscar's itchy spot
Brand label on outside
Care label away from skin
Tomono x
Oscar the pink nosed reindeer…
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 by tomonoIt is just astonishing that my little baby boy has been observing me so closely.
He loves putting make up on nowadays and today he chose my favourite Estee Lauder pink lipstick and put it on a brush and then applied it all over his face and especially his nose…
My little pink nosed Rudolf.
Now, I wonder where my Santa is…
Tomono x
Japanese Gift Wrapping - Furoshiki
Monday, December 7th, 2009 by tomonoSince I was a little girl, I’ve always loved going to gift shops. I like having something pretty or sensational in my house even though it might be not practical. I had a few favourite shops in Kochi where I grew up and all of them had free gift wrapping. It’s common to get wrapping for free and usually there are several designs of ribbons and wrapping paper that you can choose from. And they do such neat, gorgeous gift wrapping.
So when I came to UK, I was so surprised that we normally have to spend a few pounds on wrapping and on cards! That gave me an idea to provide free gift wrapping with cocoro products. However, I was talking to lots of friends about how I can follow my ethical business philosophy and not use too much paper. Recycled paper was an easy option but I wanted to add Japanese spice on top of it.
Then I thought of my mum. what would she do?
In Japan we have a great number of gift traditions for lots of occasions. We have ‘Ochugen’ season in August and ‘Oseibo’ season in December. Both of them are the season when you give a gift to someone you would like to thank - especially business partners or customers.
My mum used to take me during the summer holiday to pay a visit to her relatives and business clients with Ochugen gift. What she used to do was instead of having each gift wrapped in paper, she used to wrap them up with a big cloth called ‘Furoshiki’. She then opened the wrapping in front of them and took the furoshiki home to wrap up the next present. That day she taught me how to use furoshiki.
After I remembered this I had a great idea that is very Japanese and ecological!
So if you receive one of our baby kimono gift sets with furoshiki, please reuse it and wrap up a gift for someone else - I’m sure they’ll really appreciate it.
How to use Furoshiki in pictures: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/furoshikiya/10000862/
How to use Furoshiki video:
I hope you found this blog post about Furoshiki useful and interesting. I’d love to read your comments (I know you want to leave one!)
Oyasumi nasai
T xx
Travel during pregnancy
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by tomonoIn this post I’d like to tell you about my experience of travel during pregnancy.
2 years ago today my dear friends Hiroko and Joshua tied the knot in Sydney. When they got engaged my friends and I were so excited about attending the wedding and also to visit vineyard to try local wines. I booked the flight in April but a couple months later I found out I was pregnant.
It was such a tough decision to make whether I should cancel the flight and not attend the dearest friends’ wedding or not. I would also be very jealous watching people enjoying gorgeous wine around me. I would have been in second trimester in November and I was experiencing such a joyful pregnancy period after the first few months of morning sickness. I knew I could still go but because it was not only flight from Osaka to Sydney but also from UK to Japan. It was very tempting but I had to let it go….
Josh and Hiroko - the wedding I missed
Instead, I flew to Bratislava to see my friends while my husband was in Norway on a business trip. It was only a few hours flight and my bump had only just started showing - around week 16. I remember taking lots of rest and had frequent naps during the holiday. It was my very very first time to feel baby’s kick while I was in Vienna at a Mozart concert. Listening to classical music being good for baby wasn’t a myth after all I felt.
Where I listed to Mozart in Vienna
On week 20 I flew to Rhodes (4hrs flight) I started feeling a bit uncomfortable just sitting down for a long time. Air travel during pregnancy at about that time made me feel sure that I wouldn’t take any more flight longer than couple of hours.
I remember I had very sexy flight socks called Lifesystems Flight Socks
Did you fly much when you were pregnant? Did you have any trouble or was it only me overreacting? Did you take any useful items onto the aircraft to make traveling during pregnancy more comfortable?
T xx
Useful link about travel during pregnancy: http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/travel/gettingtherebyplane/
The Designer Baby Show - 2 days to go!
Friday, November 13th, 2009 by lewisOnly a few days to go to the Designer Baby Show!
If you are going to attend we can’t wait to see you there and show you the new baby kimonos. We are also really excited about seeing all the other exhibitors.
Designer Baby Show
When: Sunday 15th November
Where: The Centre Conference Venue, Farnham Road, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 4UT
Mata ne!
Tomono x
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"I received the kimono. We received the Cocoro package today. It looks great! I felt it was really nicely presented and I'm sure my friend will like it."
Joshua, Sydney
