Lucky Cat welcome and delicious food!

We’ve been hoping to post a story about the current Maneki Neko exhibit at the Mingei Museum in San Diego (March 13, 2011 – Jan 15, 2012), but it looks like we’ll be making a couple more stops before then.

First, a plug for Narita Sushi Restaurant near the Metrotown Mall in Burnaby, which welcomes hungry diners with a Maneki Neko noren (the split curtain that traditionally hangs in the entrance to a Japanese shop) and friendly beckoning cats sitting on the counter under the noren. The food is great, and the service friendly. The chef even came out of the kitchen to ask how we enjoyed his unique yam tempura tries (dribbled with three delicious sauces). The fries were so good I can feel them beckoning to me as I write this!

Tags: Burnaby, Japanese food, Lucky Cat, Maneki Neko, Vancouver

Taste of Asia in Burnaby, Canada

From Chinese food and healing herbs to Japanese candy and Philippine baking, the Crystal Mall in Burnaby (at Kingsway and Willingdon, near Metrotown) has plenty to offer to someone with a craving for a taste of Asia. This applies to fashions, toys, cooking utensils, and other consumer goods as well food (there’s even a store that sells those modern Japanese toilets with all the bells and whistles). And there are plenty of Lucky Cats to be seen (many, not for sale, but in use to beckon costumers and good fortune into the stores). Here are a few I spied on a visit to the Crystal Mall back in February:

This last group of Lucky Cats (above) is in the window of Moon Bear, a store that sells authentic Japanese Maneki Neko (including cell phone charms and stickers as well as more expensive figurines of different sizes) as well as other gift items.

A stop at the Crystal Mall is not complete without a visit to CandyLand, where you can buy a variety of fun candy from Japan (I came away with a bag full).

The Chinese traditonal herbal medicine store (below) looks intriguing.

Check out the whiskers on this last Lucky Cat (the Crystal Mall is possibly the only place I’ve  seen Lucky Cats with actual whiskers –not just painted on).

Next stop on the Lucky Cat tour? With a little luck, we’ll be heading south to San Diego, California, and the Mingei Museum.

Grinning Lucky Cats

These unusual Maneki Neko with laughing open mouths caught the eye of photographer James Kemlo in a craft shop in Atami on the Izu peninsula, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan.  The Lucky Cats hold fans, swords, umbrellas and fish, rather than the usual gold coin. Instead of sitting straight up in the standard beckoning cat pose, they lounge around, looking quite casual and joyous. Perhaps their wide, laughing mouths give them extra beckoning power –like they’re having a party you’re welcome to join. The three Lucky Cats in the store window display were each a different color – one blue, one white, and one red (a change from the more common white or black). Each one is hand-made individually by a local craftsperson from clay and kiln-fired. 

For more of James Kemlo’s photos of Japan, check out his Views of Japan blog. You can also find him on Twitter @JapanPhotos.

Tags: Japanese crafts, Lucky Cat sighting, Maneki Neko, Views of Japan

The Lucky Cat in Vancouver’s Chinatown

Pay a visit to Vancouver’s historic Chinatown and you are sure to see a few Lucky Cats — welcoming customers into businesses and also for sale.

Modelled after the original Japanese Maneki Neko (beckoning cat figure), the Chinese-style Lucky Cats tend to be colored gold –reflecting their goal of attracting money and good fortune.

They range in size and price (all the way up to super large $150 Lucky Cat).

If you look closely, you might even find a tiny Lucky Cat charm (there’s one for sale amid the trinkets below).

Of course, there are plenty of other interesting things to see and buy in Chinatown. Besides the restaurants, food, household items, etc, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden (below) is a tranquil oasis even on a rainy day.

If you’re searching for a Japanese-style Lucky Cat, you can find one right on the edge of Chinatown at Yokoyaya, a Japanese 100-yen-style store (associated with the Japanese Daiso chain) in the International Village (Tinseltown) Mall.

Everything in the store is $2 –even these Maneki Neko below (made in China for Daiso).

These popular and inexpensive Maneki Neko figures go fast, and each time I visit the store, the stock seems to be different, so you never know what you’ll find. The yellow, pink, and white beckoning cats and Darumas below, for example, were in the store one week and gone two weeks later.

Sometimes you can even find a beckoning Tanuki (a Japanese raccoon dog that, in folklore, is a shape-changing, sake-swilling trickster-like figure).

Sometimes you can find other Maneki Neko items like rubber stamps, tea cups, or this framed Maneki Neko:

So, if you feel the need of a little Maneki Neko luck in your life and can’t manage a trip to Japan any time soon, the nearest Chinatown may be the next best thing.

Tags: Chinatown, Lucky Cats, Vancouver, Yokoyaya store

Leggy Lucky Cat

This is cross-legged Maneki Neko was spotted in the window of a Ramen noodle restaurant on Broadway near Granville St. in Vancouver, Canada. I didn’t go in to eat, but the Lucky Cat did attract my attention (caught my eye first as I was passing by on the bus). Definately, the first Maneki Neko I’ve seen with legs.

From time to time, this blog will feature random “Lucky Cat sightings” –photos of unusual, interesting, or unexpected beckoning cats. Drop us a note in the comment section, if you have one you’d like to share. The Lucky Cat doesn’t even have to be all that unusual. Just the fact that it caught your eye and perhaps made you smile, is enough. Plus, we want to know where you sighted it.

(At left: Ramen restaurant, a few shops east of Granville on north side of Broadway, Vancouver)

Tags: Lucky Cat sighting, Maneki Neko with legs, Vancouver

Lucky Cat contest!

To celebrate the launch of Mystery of the Missing Luck, a new kids’ book that features a Maneki Neko, we’ve teamed up with author Jacqueline Pearce to hold a special draw for a Lucky Cat prize pack. Mystery of the Missing Luck is a chapter book for kids ages 6-8 (published by Orca Book Publishers and illustrated by Leanne Fransen) about a young girl, her grandmother, and what happens when their Maneki Neko statue goes missing from the grandmother’s Japanese bakery.

The prize is a Lucky Cat bag full of unique Maneki Neko (beckoning cat) items from Japan (including a cute plush beckoning cat, a wooden prayer plaque from Gotokuji Temple where the first Maneki Neko originated, tabi socks, hashi/chopsticks, stickers, candy, charm, etc. as well as a signed copy of Mystery of the Missing Luck). All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment here on this blog (letting us know you’d like to enter and what you think of Maneki Neko or this blog). For extra chances to win, you can also leave a comment on our Lucky Cat Facebook page, and on the author’s blog and Facebook page. We’ll give you a draw entry for each comment (one entry per site). Spread the word by posting a link to the contest on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter, let us know, and we’ll give you another entry. We’ll be holding the draw May 20 and announcing the winner here and on Facebook.

This is a great prize for Lucky Cat fans of all ages –lots of kawaii Maneki Neko stuff! And, while the book is for kids just starting to read novels, it’s also great for older ESL students. Good luck!

Tags: children's book, contest, ESL, Lucky Cat, Maneki Neko

In Bamboo Groves Did the Maneki Neko Roam?

By Jean-Pierre Antonio, Suzuka International University, Japan

Despite the good luck associated with Maneki Neko, the beckoning cat, in general Japanese folk beliefs related to cats tend to be frightening. The domestic cat was believed to possess bewitching powers. In legends, a cat could transform into a woman, and there is even a legend of a vampire cat (the Vampire Cat of Nabeshima in Mitford’s Tales of Old Japan). These superstitions originated in China, where the cat was feared (perhaps because domestic cats live among humans yet retain their mystery and independence). The Japanese Buddhist belief that all animals gathered and wept at Buddha’s death except the cat and the snake, did not help the cat’s reputation. How then did the story of the cat that helped Lord Ii at Gotokuji Temple take root and lead to the creation of the much-loved Maneki Neko, which has spread around the world? How did the image of the cat turn from bad to good in Japan?

There is another animal in China that may explain this mystery. The tiger, although a powerful and terrifying creature, was also greatly respected and considered the King of the beasts. It was one of the Four Sacred Creatures and its breath was associated with the wind, one of the elemental forces of nature. It could ward off illness, demons and ill-fortune. In folk beliefs, the tiger was also considered a protector of travelers, because it was a traveler itself, roaming far and wide through the bamboo forests.

These positive beliefs about the tiger, like the negative beliefs about the common cat, were brought to Japan from China over the centuries. Some of these protective powers of the tiger may then have been transferred to at least one kind of cat, the tortoiseshell, which (because it is coloured orange, white and brown/black) is associated with a tiger, albeit a very small tiger. It is known that in Edo period Japan, ships’ captains liked to keep a tortoiseshell cat on board for good luck during their journeys. This kind of cat, like the tiger, was thought to be a protector of the traveler. The mythological ground was then already prepared for a story like that of Lord Ii receiving protection from a temple cat. Lord Ii was passing the temple when the cat’s  beckoning gesture induced him to move away from a tree, thus saving him from being hit by the lightning which then struck the tree. That cat at Gotokuji, that small tiger, fulfilled its role as protector and thus the legend was born.

The next time you pass a Maneki Neko be sure to show some respect, for in his eyes you may see the tiger that hides within.

Note from Lucky Cat-Maneki Neko: A male tortoise shell cat is also considered lucky because it is rare (tortoise shell cats are usually female -as color pattern is linked to lack of an X chromosome). Maybe the Japanese Bobtail breed is a result of attempting to combine a lucky cat with a cat that can’t turn into a vampire (apparently only long-tailed cats turned into vampires)

Tags: Cats, Chinese folklore, Japanese folklore, Lucky Cat, Maneki Neko, tiger