Maneki Neko

My children have been influenced by Asia in a way I never was. They go to school with Asian children (who are often the highest achievers), learn Chinese Mandarin as a foreign language, have Asian cultural events as part of their schooling, and regularly eat sushi, Chinese fried rice, spring rolls, bok choy and so on. When I was their age, almost everything was made in China or Japan but we were encouraged to think of it as rubbish, either because a lot of it seemed poorly made or because we fought "those bloody Japs" in the war. Otherwise, Asia seemed pretty irrelevant. So I was surprised when the boy said he really, really wanted one of those Asian cat statues- a Lucky Cat. Suddenly, I noticed them everywhere, and now he has one. Which is a very long-winded way of saying, 'Emergency Blip!'