When the Japanese create something that’s meant to be cute, it invariably ends up being at least a little bit creepy. Take Hello Kitty. She’s cute, right? Sure, but stare deeper into those widely separated pitch black eyes and tell me a note of terror hasn’t been plucked in your soul. So it is with dakigokochi: birth announcements that manage to delight and disturb. Dakigokochi are bags of rice special-ordered to exactly match the weight of a specific newborn, with a photo of the baby and vital stats imprinted on the front of the sack. It allows distant relatives the experience of cradling their swaddled kin. Yet there’s something unnerving about those sample sacks all lined up in a column. You start to wonder if maybe it’s not rice inside, if maybe instead you’re holding the world’s most colorful baby bodybag.