Moomin Day Celebrations This Summer

The Moomins are characters in a cartoon series developed by Finnish illustrator Tove Jansson, and they're extremely popular in Japan. Since 2005, August 9th has been designated as Moomin Day, and it coincides with Jansson's birthdate. To celebrate Moomin Day, Saitama's Moomin Valley Park will be hosting a week full of fun activities from August 3rd to 9th.

The park will have a variety of special decorations on display, and limited-edition goods such as t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and even commemorative Moomin dorayaki will be available to purchase.

There will also be five types of special Moomin drinks on offer, and they're each priced at ¥ 700 – the flavors include strawberry milk, strawberry soda, mango soda, mango milk, and milk tea.

For the hands-on types, the park is hosting a create-your-own Moomin mug event on August 8th only. This is priced at ¥ 3000 and is on a first come, first served basis on the day. Guests will be able to decorate their mugs with a range of Moomin motifs, and they will then be taken to a kiln in Toki City, Gifu Prefecture for firing. After they're complete, they'll be delivered directly to your home.

To cap off Moomin Week, a fireworks show will run on the evening of August 9th from 7.40 pm until 8 pm, so if you're in the area be sure to stick around for it.