If The Weather Reports,

and my Grandmothers observation,

is to be believed, (she always maintained lots of holly berries on the tree means a very, very cold winter), we are due for some snow, so I guess we will need one of these, a hand-crafted leather bag whose sole purpose is to carry one miniature yukidaruma (snowpal, in Japanese),

the bag was created by artisan Yuko Matsuzawa, who explains that she was inspired by the season’s first snow — looking out the window on a cold morning, seeing the first snowflakes fall to the ground, and being filled with the urge to share that moment with someone you care about,

it was made by Japanese leather bagmaker Tsuchiya Kaban,

you have to admit it does look cute,

a removable tray with a dimple ensure that your snowman remains upright while you travel, and also allows for ease of removal,

and there is even a a inner pocket that holds a small ice pick for pruning and perfecting your snowman, the Yukidaruma Bag, is the result of an initiative by Tsuchiya Kaban called “the fun of carrying,” in which individual artisans are given complete creative rein to work on whatever they like,

the amount of work, and care, that goes into making one of these bags is truly amazing, as can be seen from the video above,

so if you see some one carrying a bag like this, remember they are not alone!