the waving cat

you know those golden ceramic or plastic cats you see at the entrance to every chinese resturaunt and yo sushi? those are maneki-neko. They are welcome cats (maneku is to beckon) and their job is to beckon customers from the street. The waving arm isnt actually waving you see. Its beckoning and this leads into the culutral difference lesson that I had today with Gunch, my new friend.

Whereas we Western folk beckon to someone with a gesture that is a palm up finger flick - imagine how you gesture 'come here', the Japanese do it palm down. Their palm down finger flick beckon looks very similar to our palms down finger flick voetsek so initially being called to by a Japanese person is very confusing (it happened to me on my hospital trip). this is the most notable gesture divergence i have come across yet (aside from the gesture for 'I' or 'me?' which for us is pointing to the chest and for the Japanese, a point to the nose).

So anywho, Gunch told me that when Maneki Neku manufacturers realised that their cats were popular tourist trinkets and that Westeners had a different directional beckon they began to produce cats that gestured the other way, the Western way. So apparently, if i look hard enough I'll be able to find Maneki-Neko that dont gesture down in a 'wave' beckon, but up: the Western way - as if throwing salt over its little golden shoulder.

(Todays blog is dedicated to Smashley - for his endless fascination with Maneki Neku).


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