The art of the letter is falling by the wayside, especially with rising postal prices. So it was a delight to receive not only a Christmas card in the mail, but a cute hand-drawn one — from Lemon! His kawaii drawing captures Basil Farrow to a T: the fat furry face, folded ears, sideways feet and lightly striped tail. I opened it to find a message full of magic and mystery. (I’m keeping it between us, so you’ll just have to guess at what’s written inside…)

Ako, designer of Japanese punk clothing line Blablahospital, also sent me a nifty handmade card. She glued and glittered plush animals over a pink heart. Inside, she included a nurse’s hat as an “emergency cure for fashion sickness!” You can carry it around with you and pull it out if the moment calls for more stylishness… (See more about the hat on Ako’s blog.)

Inside was a greeting in what she calls “strange English.” I can’t get enough of her punk rock playfulness.

Blablahospital’s latest clothes and accessories are as bright and medical-chic as ever. You can see the latest styles here.

I hope you have been enjoying my CNNGo articles and the Asia travel/lifestyle website in general. My latest one is about Chinese belly dancers and Indian pop n lockers: Asia Dance competitions turn up the heat. CNNGo also did a feature about the fiery-haired woman above. Her name is Dr. Porntip and she is an a) porn star; b) Visual Kei rocker; c) cuts bodies open for a living. What’s your guess? Find out in this piece. What do we think of Porntip’s hair: kawaii or ai-yah?

Thanks for your enthusiasm about my new t-shirts and hoodies. The first printing is almost ready to send out — hurry and pick one up on Akumu Ink’s website! For full information about the sizes and styles, take a look at this post. If you can think of any local stores that might want to carry the clothing line, please email me. Much thanks in advance.

Finally, I’m writing a CNNGo article about shopping for plus sized clothing in Asia and the skinny mentality in many Asian cities. I was wondering if you had any anecdotes or experiences to share? Thoughts on size discrimination? Can you name or send links to any plus sized clothing lines in Asia? Let me know in the comments or email me. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

More Tokyo party coverage and NYC adventures coming right up…