Hello, My name's Karen.

My username, Momiji has two meanings - Firstly, it's the Japanese word for a certain type of autumn leaf.
Secondly, it's the name of a character from the anime, 'Fruits Basket'; Momiji Sohma, a troubled lad who has a penchant for wearing a girl's school uniform, he also had the tendency to turn into a rabbit when embraced by a member of the opposite sex.

Although I don't collect urban vinyl toys per se, I do have a strong interest in the design of independent characters across animation, comic-art, advertising, graffiti and,... toy-making.

I do have my own toy collection of 5~cm high Japanese produced (Chinese manufactured!?) figurines/mascots including Peko Chan, Anpan Man, Kusuri Kaeru, Astroboy etc. This is more of a vintage/nostalgic collection rather than an urban vinyl collection. I collected most of these whilst living in Japan 2005-2006.

My favourite artists/art groups/companies are Yoshimoto Nara, Jeremyville, Smitten by Stephanie, Isobel Knowles, Paul Robertson, Pictoplasma, Friends with You, Shawnimal, Junko Mizuno, Takashi Murakami, Jon Burgerman, Yupyland, Peskimo, Tado, Tokidoki, Letoy, Stick-A-Thing, FormatBrain, Charuca, oh, so many more!

These days I am also interested in other character-based projects and exhibitions - I follow the activities of Pictoplasma online, and recently have been interested in this exhibition here: http://www.vinylabuse.com/limitededition/about.htm, which cleverly ties character design and urban vinyl together for a good cause (endangered animals). Recently I put on a character design exhibition in Perth, Candy Cult, at the Breadbox Gallery. The website is here: www.candycult.net

Anyway, it's cool to see this site here, based in Perth.
I don't meet many people in this city who have similar interests to myself, so yeh, nice to meet you.

Karen.