Tokyo Haneda Airport Archives - Stuck at the Airport

Souvenir Sunday: best airport souvenirs of 2010

Each Sunday here at Stuck at the Airport is Souvenir Sunday – a day to celebrate the fun, inexpensive and offbeat items you can find at airports.

Today we take a look back at the some of the best airport souvenirs featured this year; a reminder that there’s still time to do your holiday shopping at the airport.

At London’s Heathrow Airport these bus banks were adorable;

But I came home with several of these Beatles tote bags, although no one can convince me that’s Ringo.

Meet the (scary-looking) Beatles

At Boston Logan International Airport, I found lovely lobster hats – and a shop clerk willing to get her picture taken as a model:

Gebra models lobster cap for sale at Logan Airport

At the new international terminal at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, I spent way too much time at the store entirely devoted to Hello Kitty:

And at Pittsburgh International Airport, I scooped up a (yummy) chocolate hockey puck:

Corny Cob – a big seller at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids – definitely makes the list in this year’s Souvenir Sunday favorites:

But my favorite airport souvenir remains the line of SUX souvenirs from the Sioux Gateway Airport:

SUX post card from Sioux Gateway Airport

Greetings from SUX

Do you shop for souvenirs when you’re stuck at the airport?

If you find something that’s inexpensive (about $10), offbeat and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo and send it along.

If your souvenir is featured on Souvenir Sunday, you’ll receive a special airport souvenir.

Souvenir Sunday at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport

During an opening-day tour of the brand new International Terminal at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (officially: Tokyo International Airport) last week, I spent a good amount of time searching for souvenirs on the pre-security shopping street designed to evoke a very early style Japanese village.

And because Souvenir Sunday was coming up, I of course looked for inexpensive “of” the city or region items to share with you.

First up: Green Tea and wasabi-flavored Japanese Kit Kat bars, available by the single bar, the 12-bar box and in much larger mini-multi-pack versions.

Other Kit Kat flavors being offered at the airport included strawberry cheese cake, blueberry chese cake, and Intense Roasted Soybean Flavor.

It turns out that’s just a small selection of the wild and wacky Kit Kat flavors available elsewhere in Japan – and around the world. Here’s a link to Fried Toast’s Flickr set of more than 100 types of Kit Kat ‘flavors.’)

I stocked up on Kit Kats and hit the Hello Kitty Store:

I contemplated buying these Super Hero-shaped water bottles, but realized I’d have to give them up at the security checkpoint.

Instead I bought these cookies, which depict the airline of Sirotan, a white seal character popular in Japan –

And, just because they looked fun and colorful, some paper souvenirs.

After a morning poking around the shops in the International Terminal, I headed back to my hotel – which was conveniently located inside one of the airport’s two domestic terminals. And there, at the Starbucks in the mall attached to Terminal 2, I found these special Starbucks mugs, made especially as an airport souvenir.