The Maneki Neko Cat, or the Japanese Beckoning Cat, is a lucky charm commonly found in Japan and adopted by other Asian countries like China and the Philippines. You will frequently see these statues in front of shops, beckoning people to enter with its raised paw.
My friends and I went to Chinatown earlier this year (as we do every year before the Chinese New Year), and the image of luck and the cat inspired me to draw my own beckoning cat for my site, but in an image that is obviously me. Thus the redhead in a white spandex cat costume.
FUN FACT: One of the most plausible reasons for its rapid rise to popularity in the Meiji Period involves the sex industry. In the secluded Edo Period, during which Japan closed its doors to the outside world, an indigenous “amusement” culture grew side by side with the expanding power of the merchant class.
Here’s hoping its magic will bring in good fortune.
