If you’ve recently spotted adults parading around with cuddly toys dangling from their designer handbags, your eyes haven’t been deceiving you. The playful trend of adorning bags with cute charms has become popular among people of various ages. Plushies like Labubu and anime and manga characters such as Chiikawa have become must-have accessories that make personal statements. The practice of attaching charms to personal items has been common across cultures throughout history. In ancient civilizations, charms were often used as symbols of protection, good luck, or identity. Fast-forward to more modern times, and style icons like Jane Birkin, a
A: Apart from Jin Yong, the late martial arts novelists Liang Yusheng and Gu Long were also very popular. B: Wasn’t Liang a pioneer of the “new school” wuxia genre in the 20th century? A: Yup, I really like his Tianshan mountain series. All the characters — such as the “White Haired Demoness” — are so vivid. B: The roles in Gu’s books are lively, too — like the “Fragrant Commander” Chu Liuxiang. A: And the TV drama adapted from the Chu Liuxiang series swept across Taiwan in the 1980s, with ratings surging over 70 percent at that time.
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Kevin leaned over the bubbling pot. “Hey. . . are you okay? You’ve barely touched your food.” Zoey blinked. Her face was red — not from blushing, but from the “mala” spice and the heat of the room. Her blond hair clumped to her face like strands of fine spaghetti. Her carefully applied makeup now streaked. “This isn’t what I expected,” she said softly, forcing a smile. All around them, Kevin’s friends were laughing, shouting, and tossing ingredients into the broth. The air smelled of chili oil and garlic.
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang If plushie charms are cute little nods to people’s interests, ita bags are full-on declarations. The term “ita” comes from the Japanese word itai, which means “painful” and reflects the overwhelming visual intensity of these bags. An ita bag is essentially a handbag, backpack, or tote meticulously decorated with an extensive collection of merchandise dedicated to a specific character or idol. These bags usually feature a clear plastic window to display carefully arranged pins, badges, keychains, or fan art. Both the interior and exterior may be covered in fandom memorabilia, creating an aesthetic so intense that it’s almost “painful”