Unusual for Iwako is the way they have chosen to release two new styles of animal erasers for the second half of 2012. Usually we receive individual samples of the new Japanese erasers from Iwako. With the new crocodile and laying panda Japanese erasers, we only discovered the new erasers when we were sent a sample of Omokeshi Safari Set Number 22.

We have no word from Iwako when to expect these, but in the past, receipt of new Japanese eraser samples portends delivery to us in a few weeks.

We would wish Ty with the impending Hello Kitty Iwako erasers could be more prompt.

One other thing. We like how at ease these two new Japanese eraser animal erasers are. The crocodile seems to have no intention of making any unnecessary movement. The panda is splayed out on all fours, perhaps on a belly full of bamboo.

Since Toy Fair this past February, Ty has been dangling in front of us the Iwako Hello Kitty Japanese erasers. And they continue to tantalize us. This past week we received the fall Ty wholesale catalog and within were pictures of the elusive Hello Kitty Japanese erasers. These erasers appear on the Ty order forms but we still do not have a ship date.

If you would like to know when we receive the Ty Hello Kitty Japanese erasers here at sausalitoferry.com, click on this link, which will take you to the Ty Hello Kitty Erasers on the site, click on "Notify Me" and enter you email address. The very moment we enter the inventory, you will be the first to know.

Iwako Omokeshi Safari Set 22 is unique in that this is the first time Iwako has introduced a new style of a Japanese eraser in a blister set. Before this, we would usually see the new type of Japanese eraser in an assortment of similar type erasers.

The crocodile Japanese eraser is added to the existing animal erasers. We have no idea when or if the crocodile eraser will be available as an individual eraser, but we will add it to sausalitoferry.com. If you want to know when we receive the crocodile Japanese eraser, click on this link, click on the "Notify Me" button, enter your email address and you will be sent a notification when we receive the crocodile Japanese eraser.

One minor quibble. Admittedly we have never been on safari in Africa, but we have always had the impression that pandas, kangaroos and polar bears do not live on the African continent. Maybe they should have named the card, Iwako Omokeshi Animals That You Do Not Want To Get Too Close Too Set 22.

When Iwako Japan released a new series of erasers they would often come in six colors. When that first series of Japanese erasers sold out, they would replace them with a new set of colors. For Series Three Panda erasers, there are only two new colors added of the six, but they are only a shade or two removed from the colors they are replacing in Series Two Panda Japanese erasers.

For those hardcore collectors of Japanese erasers, this subtle color variation is interesting. Here at sausalitoferry.com we delight in such variations and the website is full of different color shades of the same eraser. The Octopus Japanese erasers is one such example.

In the right hand photo, we show the new darker green and pink Series Three Panda Japanese erasers next to their Series Two Panda Japanese eraser counterparts. The middle two darker colored Panda erasers are Series Three erasers that are superseding the Series Two Pandas.

We would like to see in the future Iwako go back to new color ways for all six of a new series of Japanese erasers.

Browsing through the Japanese erasers that we have on sausalitoferry.com, cute is probably the single word that best describes 99% of the erasers.

The remaining 1% includes such erasers as grenade erasers, the Neanderthal Man eraser and the big bull eraser. One can easily image any of those on some guys desk.

Out of Korea, we have four different sets of soda, spirit, beer and wine erasers.  Each bottle is about two inches tall and contains a colored plane round eraser. The bottom of the bottle comes off if you actually need to eraser something.

Before the days of ubiquitous bottled water, when you were thirsty, your options were limited pretty much to water fountains. The water fountains dotted the urban landscape like the all but now disappeared pay phones. These drinking fountains could be awfully foul and slurping from them could certainly lead to a long and agonizing death by bacterial poisoning. Hose spigots were a good alternative, but trying to drink from water rushing from a opened spigot was a wet proposition. Enter the collapsible cup.

Your cohorts would finish their drink from the spigot or hose and come away with a dripping face and splattered wet clothes. You would whip out your collapsible cup and drink like the boss you were. Nothing could be cooler.

Here at Sausalito Ferry Co, we have two sizes of travel collapsible cups. The stainless steel travel cup or shot glass stands 2 1/2 inches fully extended and accordions down to a mere 1/2 inch. Not pictured is the cap with a key chain that the travel cups slides into. And it fits into your pocket, oh so comfortably.

The larger plastic expandable cup comes in convenient pint size for those occasions when you have the spigot and no mug. Whip out your port-a-pint and snap it open with a flick of the wrist. Why waste good brew drinking directly from the tap? Cup is 5 inches tall when open and goes down to 1 1/2 inches closed.

We first saw these versions of the Hello Kitty Ty Beanie Baby erasers at the New York Toy Fair this past winter. It is now six months later and we have some bad photos of the Hello Kitty Ty Erasers that will ship sometime this summer. Or least that what we have been told by Ty. We don not know if Iwako Japan is making these or if another supplier is. At Toy Fair, in another manufactures booth that sells mostly to mass market retailers such as Walmart etc, we found tucked away in a odd corner, Hello KItty erasers similar to these. Since Sausalito Ferry Co is not one of the large retailers, the sales people for that supplier were not all that interested in talking to us. We will have a better idea once we actually receive them.

If you want to be notified when they arrive, go to Spring 2012 Releases, or Hello Kitty Erasers, or Ty Beanie Erasers, click the "Notify Me" button, enter your email and you will be sent a notification when we finally get the Ty Hello Kitty Erasers. We do not sell, rent, lend or otherwise our mailing list.

So the Series Three Panda Japanese Erasers are going to replace Series Two Panda Japanese Erasers in June. Mostly.

Here is a panda by panda breakdown of which of these Japanese erasers made it to Series Three and those Japanese erasers who did not.

The brown panda Japanese eraser is out. History.

Pink, green, purple are slightly different shades of their counterparts in Series Two. Looks like Iwako just went to the next shade of the corresponding Pantone color. The Japanese eraser collectors love these color variations. Everybody else, just meh.

The black panda Japanese erasers, sensibly, is being continued.

Red and yellow are new colors. Got to give Iwako congrats for being a bit adventurous in color choice.

Now if we could only get them to do glow in the dark Japanese erasers....

We realize that most of you are not quite as obsessed with Japanese erasers as we are. Each shipment we receive here at sausalitoferry.com is examined with intense scrutiny.

Last week when we were taking photos of Omokeshi Animals in Forrest Set 19 we saw some colors variations of the teddy bear eraser that we had not seen since we had first started carrying Japanese erasers.

In the foreground are two Iwako teddy bear Japanese erasers that we first saw in early assortments that included Iwako bunny Japanese erasers. In the rear is the current color variation of the teddy bear eraser. The color of the newer bear Japanese eraser is more yellow than the brown color of the older style.

The new older bears in the Omokeshi Animals in Forrest Set 19 are the same size as their contemporary counterparts. The original versions were slightly smaller in size that the bear Japanese erasers that are currently in production.

Recently Iwako has shown more color variation in their Japanese erasers from shipment to shipment, but we are a little puzzled by seeing these older color variations in a new Omokeshi set. We would expect an entirely new shade of colors rather than an older one. Maybe Iwako thought that the current bear Japanese erasers were too yellow in color.

The "K" on the sweater of the bear Japanese erasers  is for "kuma", which is Japanese for bear.

On sausalitoferry.com we show both of the older style bear Japanese erasers as out of stock and we do not know when we will have more stock of the individual older color bear Japanese eraser bears. The larger new old bear Japanese erasers will probably replace the smaller original bear erasers.  If you are one of the hard core Japanese eraser collectors, you can go to any Japanese eraser that is out of stock on sausalitoferry.com, hit the "Notify Me" button and a email will be sent when and if we get inventory. We do not rent, sell, lend, or otherwise any of the emails or addresses of our customers.

Sonny Angel Animal Series 4 is on sausalitoferry.com. Sonny Angel Animal Series 4 has twelve different Kewpie figures plus the one mystery figure. Pictured on the left, the thirteenth mystery figure is a dragon. In our shipment we only received only one mystery figure.

The surprise in the set is the introduction of a new mouse like character named Robby Angel. Of course he has angel wings and splayed out hands characteristic of all Sonny Angel figurines. In our shipment, Robby Angel came in the blind box that contained the Skunk Sonny Angel and we are offering them together as a pair.