In Japan, theatres have gift counters where they sell small trinkets relating to upcoming or current movies.

They also hand out small catalogues where you can order additional items by mail.

The Japanese theatre items are some of the best made, best designed, most exciting of all the Lord of the Rings memorabilia. A collector could easily specialize in Japanese theatre items for a very satisfying collection.

Even the small, colorful catalogue fliers are avidly collected for their beautiful movie art.
 
Japan also produced oversized softcover books, movie "programs", full of colorful art and movie information. Each program included the full catalogue in the back few pages, an excellent resource for anyone wanting more information on the beautiful Japanese items.

Collectible items included postcard sets for each movie. These weren't just run of the mill postcards. These were small glossy masterpieces, beautiful quality (the Japanese are known for their reverence of high quality paper products). They included collages and images not found anywhere else. The Two Towers set was particularly beautiful. Even the envelopes had lovely sepia toned art on them.

In addition, theatregoers could purchase a wide assortment of jewelry, ranging from a Mallorn leaf zipper pull, to a Mt Doom volcano pin, to a heavy Orc "biker" pocket chain, to a stunning Evenstar necklace that is my absolute favorite version of this necklace.( So much more attractive than the Nobel/Noell version, imho!) There were even series of sealed, randomly packed buttons, including a "mystery" button which was hard to get.

The practical fan could buy a business card case engraved with a Mallorn leaf, an ingenious aluminum perpetual calendar, pens with little dangly characters on them, wall calendar, a notebook, and Japanese pencilboards.

There were also t-shirts available, a sticker poster, cash cards, bumper stickers, and other items.

I think my personal least favorite thing in my entire collection comes from the Japanese catalogue, though, in spite of how nice everything else was. For Return of the King, they sold a small plastic Phial of Galadriel, attached to a chain. Not only can I not figure out what the purpose of the thing is (it looks like a sweater clip with only one clip), it reminds me of an insufflator. You know those little bulbs you stick up a baby's nose to clean it out? Poor Galadriel, her phial looks like an ornate one of those. Ecccch!!!!!

But, it is offset by one of my very favorite items, a lovely music box. The music box is made of polished wood, with a brass One Ring set into the lid. When you open it up, there is a visible movement, which plays the music from the very end of FOTR, the part when Frodo is clutching the ring, tears streaming down his face, making his decision. It is a very delicate little snippet of music, probably my favorite in the entire trilogy, and a joy to listen to.

There is a link on my About Me and My World pages to a site that includes photos of this item and other Japanese collectibles.