The fascinating history behind the popular ‘waving lucky cat’
With an inviting raised paw and pointy red ears, these iconic lucky charms have been bringing good fortune for centuries.
The maneki-neko, also known as the welcoming cat, lucky cat, money cat, happy cat, and beckoning cat, dates back to the 17th century and has since become one of the most popular features in Asian businesses.Photograph by Richard Milnes, Alamy
ByRebecca Saunders
Email
The “Chinese waving cat” is well-known visually, at least. This kitsch, often gold ornament is ubiquitous in Chinatowns and Asian stores around the world, but these cute little statues aren’t Chinese at all: They’re Japanese.
This illustration provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020 shows the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). (CDC via AP, file photo)
Potentially big spreaders of the novel coronavirus can be the people least suspected of carrying the contagion, a recent study showed.
In a “social testing” project that started in October 2020, Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward office tested residents and workers at care facilities and related businesses for elderly and disabled people.
All 21,710 people tested as of April 27 showed no signs of COVID-19 symptoms, but 117 were in fact infected with the novel coronavirus.
Samples are analyzed under an amplification process to detect the virus. Larger quantities of the virus, which increase the risk of infecting others, require less amplification for detection.
Apr 25, 2021
Spring is here, parks are busy with people enjoying the warmer weather and the country has (slowly) begun its much-anticipated vaccination program. It seems like things might just start getting back to normal or some semblance of it, anyway.
But these glimmers of hope don’t mean that the situation in Japan is suddenly coming up roses. Dissatisfaction over the nation’s slow vaccine rollout, the ongoing discussion of whether to cancel the long-postponed Tokyo Olympics, and a fresh state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures highlight that Japan is very much not out of hot water.
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