I come to you today with a new obsession...and it's so Asian! I've come to realize in the past few years that there are things in my genetic makeup that cause me to love things that other fellow Asians also love. I can't escape it.

For example, I first started using phone charms ironically. I thought it was funny and silly that in Japan, and to a smaller extent, pretty much everywhere in Asia, people hang tons of phone charms on their phone. So, I decided to start using them on my cell phones here in the U.S. where nobody does that. But I got addicted. And now, I am limited on which cell phones I can buy because most American phones do not have charm holes (as Aaron and I call the place on a phone where you can hang a charm off). I am currently using a Nokia N8 (Aaron is too! Matching cellphones :)), which is so rare in the U.S. it's not recognized by AT&T as a smartphone, thus avoiding their forced data plan bullshit. Yes, this was all planned out with an attention to detail usually reserved for coups on small countries.

In any case, my new obsession are these cat headphone jack charms designed by Otako Nekomura. Prepare to be amazed!

That's a group picture of the first version. I think they removed the headphone jack insert to be able to show them better. The pictures below give a better idea of how they would look on a phone.

The anatomical correctness (third pic, esp.) creeped me out a bit at first, but I think the artist was trying to be as realistic as possible. Which is cool, because it would be like having a real miniature kitten keeping you company on your phone at all times!

The bottom of the charms are even perfect. Check out the kitten loaf with the paws underneath with the voluminous cat body surrounding them...

And, I thought this one was especially poignant:

The description at Strapya World (an online store for Japanese cell phone charms and stuff) describes it perfectly.

Why this cat is so long? It's totally meaningless... It might inhibit you from using your smartphone. If you have an experience living with cats, you might have been annoyed with them. They often disturb you when you read books, write something, or watch TV. My cats like to lay down on the notebook while I am writing down something on it. This earphone jack accessory reminds me of the bad behavior of my cats...

BP totally does that...his favorite place to nap is on the mousepad of my computer, wreaking havoc on my internet-ing.

Now apparently, the story behind these charms is that Otako Nekomura, a Japanese manga artist who's obsessed with cats, put some sketches of the charms on Twitter, and a manufacturing company found it and decided to make them. Here's some examples of her sketches:

Pretty cool, right?
Apparently they've been selling so well they've even had to make a second version. I ended up getting three with a free shipping coupon code (TREAT) on Strapya World.

I know this sounds like a paid advertisement, but it's not. I literally paid $26 for three phone charms and am giving them free publicity. Sad, but true. Because the kittens are so freaking cute!