So I thought I’d post about some of the random stuff I’ve gotten while we’ve been here. I wish I had thought to take pictures of some little snack packages I had gotten during the winter, but hopefully I’ll find some more this coming winter. I found these little Yukidaruma custard filled cakes that were really cute, they were shaped with two sections, the head and the body and they were wrapped individually and the wrappers had little eyes, mouths, gloves and scarves drawn on them ^^

The ones I’m posting pictures on we got while we were in Hiraizumi. The ones on the little sakura plate are ichigo (strawberry) cream filled mochi, the red box is obviously a ringo (apple) treat of some kind, and it’s mochi as well, and the last one is wrapped with what’s supposed to look like a large leaf and tied like a little carrying package. Like the little leaf package that Satsuki and Mei get from Totoro in the movie My Neighbor Totoro.

Then next I have pictures of the random stuff I’ve gotten outta Gasshapon machines here. Gashapon’s are like our American “egg” machines, where you put in a quarter or 50 cents and you get a plastic egg with a prize inside. The difference is that the toys you get in Gashapons are usually much nicer, but cost a bit more. The cheapest one you’ll find is 100 yen ~ a dollar, and I’ve seen ones up to 300 yen. The 300 yen though are usually really nice figures that have ton of detail on them. In my pictures you can see the 3 Legend of Zelda figures and the 2 Neon Genesis ones I’ve got, they all cost 300 yen. But the rest of the ones I got cost 100 yen as far as I can remember. Oh, I think the Hello Kitty bag cost 200 yen, and maybe the LoZ DS stylus. The LoZ figures are amazingly detailed, like I can’t believe that it only cost 300 yen detailed. They’re more detailed then most $10-15 figures you get here in the states.

The last pictures I have here is of a Maneki Neko mug I got a week or so ago. It’s covered in dozens of pictures of different types of Maneki Nekos. I really like the story of the Maneki Neko, it goes like this:

There was a poor and not frequented shrine maintained by a single monk. At the shrine live a cat that the poor monk managed to find food for it every day and was always nice to the cat. And one day he was talking to the cat and said “Oh dear, it looks like I’m going to have to leave because no one visits and contributes to this shrine, but I worry about what will happen to you if I have to leave…” After he said that the cat got up and walked outside and he sat in front of the Torii gate right as a nobleman was passing by. The nobleman saw that the cat was beckoning him and he took interest and stopped, turned and walked over to the cat. Right as the man started walking towards the cat a lightning bolt struck a tree right overhead and a branch crashed down right where the man had been about to walk. The man was extremely grateful and so adopted the shrine as his family’s and it prospered and the monk and the cat lived without fear of starvation and homelessness after that.

But the story has many variations to it like most folklore does, this is just one of the more popular ones.  So the beckoning cat statue, the Maneki Neko is said to bring good luck and fortune. In fact, there are a variety of ways that it can bring luck, from love to good grades. This is usually determined from what color, which paw is raised, and how high the paw is raised as well.

I wish I could get a better picture, maybe I can take one after we get a better camera sometime soon.

Here’s a couple sites that have some cool Maneki neko stuff. ^^

http://www.namaii.com/manekineko/

http://members.tripod.com/DonaldMoon/neko/