[GTJ]

I say take the typography further. Look up some clips of Japanese variety shows on TV and you'll see that they go crazy with it. Part of the reason is because there are relatively few Japanese fonts (a result of no typographer wanting to make all those kanji), so they have to be as creative as they can. This means using stroke, fills, gradients, outer glows, inner glows, drop shadows, bevels, embossments, neon glows, cutouts, etc etc. Most of the techniques can be done with some creative thought and problem solving within Photoshop and Illustrator (more the former than the latter, though any good designer will tell you Photoshop is NOT for typography, this is the exception).

Anyway, the black, vanilla text just ain't doin it for me. Plus, are the onigiri crying? I've seen onigiri with beady eyes and little "3" kitty smiles like this a million times before, but not with the 好 up top, so that's a good element that sets you apart a little bit. Are the purple bits supposed to be grapes? Also, do you think you should add more depth to the strawberries? I would say tone down either the red or the green because right now they're kinda hard to look at.

As my professors always said, "keep going!"