Plans for the new year, hopes and dreams too, need noting.

The new Blue & White Mottainai Calendar rolled in from the printer last week and is guaranteed to make you laugh – or smile at the very least.  It should provide humor and surprise in 2014. Large squares provide ample space to record plans and promises.

Pages of old calendars have been repurposed with the free and inventive imagination of our friends and fans and creatively turned into hats and lunch boxes and necklaces and notes.

MOTTAINAI means too good to waste. It is a beautiful term from Buddhism that is central to the mindful upbringing of most Japanese, (notably the older ones!) that honors the preciousness of things.

Treasure it. Waste not. Too good to waste. Use it again. Too good to be true. So many nuances, so many layers of meaning.

Generations of grandmothers have taught their grandchildren about the importance of treasuring each thing, eating everything on the plate, and not throwing things away.

Today recycling is a new imperative at Blue & White where we use only old shopping bags from other stores that our friends bring into Blue & White, and make eco bags of rejected materials from the dyers, and notepads from leftover paper from the printers.

For years friends amazed me when they write letters, postcards, and gift cards on old Blue & White calendar pages they had saved. It delighted me to see the rebirth of old pages of the calendar and know Blue & White travels the world in many different forms!

Try it yourself and see what you can make out of our old calendars. There is no end of possibility.

Old calendar pages reconfigured bring life and fun to the the New Year.

We use the last bits of old calendars as labels and price tags in the shop.

Recycling old Blue & White calendars can be playful and fun. Playing is important! Use it again. Make something that’s never been thought of before. And smile while you’re at it.

May 2014 be filled with play and innovation and happy surprises.

To order your own Blue & White calendar, please email or fax us at
blueandwhitejapan@gmail.com
FAX 813 3451 051 0512

Payment by credit card:  MasterCard, Visa, American Express.
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Price:  ¥2,100 for calendar