Kokeshi dolls — Kristen's collection, gathered for her daughter

Auntie Kristen — Micki’s younger sister, a pilot at the same airline — has been building this collection on her Tokyo layovers for years. Kokeshi are the traditional wooden dolls of northern Japan, originally souvenirs from hot-spring villages in the 19th-century Tōhoku region. Cylindrical bodies, round heads, hand-painted kimono patterns. She gathers them trip by trip, building a multi-generational heirloom shelf for her daughter. Hers were gathered trip by trip and aren’t sold as a set — the Shop link opens a curated selection of kokeshi so you can start your own shelf. — Eris