[UPDATE: Line Friends Store will be closing permanently on December 31, 2022.] Brown the bear, the salmon-loving mascot of LINE (Japan's most popular instant-messaging service) is the star of this hugely popular character goods shop, along with Cony the rabbit, Sally the duck and their many animated friends. The shop reopened in Spring 2018 in larger quarters (just down the block from the old store), with new lines of exclusive merchandise, including a new family of characters called BT21 which was developed in collaboration with Korean boy band BTS.

In addition to plush toys of all sizes and styles, you'll find umbrellas and shower slippers, picnic supplies and tableware, USB mini-humidifiers, mousepads, and a huge array of stationery supplies. The Jungle Brown series shows off a cosplaying Brown in various animal costumes, and Brown and Cony sport traditional Japanese seasonal attire for occasions like New Year's and cherry-blossom season.

One unexpected collaboration is with makers of Kutani and Hasami porcelain ware, resulting in collections of plates, bowls, cups and chopstick rests showing LINE characters in traditional Japanese settings. Other "Japan Original" merchandise includes maneki-neko characters, mini-bento boxes and thermoses, and wedding-edition plush toys.

If Alexa and Google Home smart speakers just aren't cute enough to match your home decor, LINE sells Brown- and Sally-shaped versions of their own Clova Wave smart speakers. These will play music from LINE's music service, send text messages via LINE, report on the news and weather, and perform other AI-driven tasks in response to voice commands.